A Badgers Champion
by SpitKill
Summary: The Potters had a plan for when the Dark Lord struck on Halloween. It was risky, but it worked. Lily and James Potter both survived the encounter, and their son was now the marked boy who lived. Eleven years later he sets off to Hogwarts with training to change the world. Little does he realize the Dark Lord he thought was gone, would return sooner rather than later. HannahXHarry
1. A Wand And a Destiny

****Chapter 1****

A young green eyed boy look himself over in the mirror. He was eleven years old today, and in a few long weeks he would be joining the 97' class of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Despite his father's best efforts he had grown up a responsible young man, that took his life and role very seriously. You see in July 1980 a women named Sybil Trelawney made a prophesy about a young man that would be born as the seventh month dies to people who have three times defied a dark lord. This young man would be destined to either rise or fall at the hands of the Dark Lord Voldemort. When the Potter's found out about this prophesy they placed a fidelius charm on the property, and attempted to evade a blood thirsty Dark Lord. On Halloween of 1981, however the game changed. Peter Pettigrew, a long time family friend to both of Harry's parents betrayed them, and led the Dark Lord straight to the little Harry in hope of sparing his own life. There was only a small problem with this plan however.

Lily Evans was widely considered one of the greatest charm prodigies to ever walk into the Wizarding World, and she had placed wards on the fidelius charm to inform her of when the secret was told, and when Pettigrew told someone without their permission, the Potter's prepared for an offensive. An elaborate scheme was setup, with several illegal blood rituals performed, that would protect Harry from the killing curse. It took tireless amounts of work from the scared mother, but when the time came her plan had succeeded.

On Halloween night the Dark Lord strolled into Godrics Hallow, intent on finishing off the chosen one of the prophesy, only to have the curse rebounded by Lily Potter's magic. The public was never given this knowledge and they proclaimed Harry as "The Boy Who Lived."

Lily and James Potter both allowed these rumors to fluctuate, but never gave a definite account of what had actually happened. When Harry had turned ten years old the parents however had sat him down and explained the lengths they took to keep their son safe. At that point Harry had two different mind sets. On one hand he was not this boy who lived rubbish, however he was the chosen one of a horrible prophesy, that could one day lead to his death. However he wasn't without training. Even at ten years old the young man had a thirst for knowledge that could never be satisfied. He grew up with the best of the best teaching him different basic subjects. They had all known the prophesy, and no one wanted Harry to lose this prophesied death match. James Potter even told Harry in times of fear that he would never have to face the Dark Lord alone, that no matter what happened his mom and dad would always be beside him in the fight. This would give Harry the necessary strength to do one last repetition, or one last push for to get a spell correct over the years.

The young man looked himself up and down again, observing his shirtless body. For an eleven year old he was very defined. The semblance of a six pack was clearly starting to form, and he was by no means a scrawny James Potter. He looked like a fair mix of his two parents, but he had seen pictures of his grandfather Charlus, and he looks almost like an exact replica. Both were tall, and Charlus was very muscular in his youth, which Harry seemed to adopt. His jaw bone was rather small, while his cheek bones were sharp, his most notable feature would always be the scar on his forehead that gave the world a constant reminder of just what he had gone through. His green eyes of course were as radiant as his mothers' but he incorrectly believed that someone would recognize his scar before his eyes.

He strolled down the halls of Potter manor trying to make his way to the grounds where he would start his day with a run, however he was immediately intercepted by a tall man with a large white beard, Harry easily recognized the man and gave a large smile, "Good morning Headmaster. Care to join me for a morning run?"

The grandfather like man chuckled at his pupil for a few moments, "No my boy, I dare say that with my old age I would not make it to the fence line before I had some type of heart attack. I was merely here to wish you a happy birthday, and tell you that your day off should start now. Training can resume tomorrow my boy, today you must celebrate with your friends and family. Go back to you room and sleep in. Today is your day Mr. Potter."

Harry looked suspiciously at the old man, "What brings you here this early headmaster? I know mum and dad aren't awake yet, and I don't believe you came here to tell me to lie in. What is really going on?"

The headmaster just merely had a twinkle in his eye, "I take it you don't want to lie in then?"

The young man who was always respectful to his mentor groaned, "Headmaster your avoiding my question! Is everything okay? Did something happened to Moony or Padfoot?"

Dumbledore sighed as he stared at the young man in the eyes with an attempt to breach is occulmency shields, however Harry was having none of it as he brought his barriers straight up to block out the old man, "Very good Harry. Very good. You detected me, and blocked me out in record time. Now as to why I am here, I was just visiting my brother Aberforth down the street, and knew you would be awake at this early hour, so I thought I would be the first to wish you a Happy Birthday, and maybe even deliver this parcel to you."

The young man seemed to stare at the letter that was being held out to him in shock, "Is that what I think it is?"

Dumbledore merely laughed heartily, "I guess you won't know until you take it my boy!"

Reaching out quickly the green eyed boy took the letter with the Hogwarts insignia on it, and tore it open rapidly, reading the Hogwarts acceptance letter. Harry at this point was doing his best from letting out a cheer, but couldn't help himself. Being a considerate person the headmaster had already casted a privacy charm so that way they would not wake up the whole house, "So I guess this makes it official then doesn't it professor. I will be a Hogwarts student in just over a month?"

"Was there ever any doubts Mr. Potter?"

Harry laughed, "Only every other day headmaster. It is simply wonderful to read the letter and make it official."

The aged headmaster patted the young man on the shoulder, "I see some exciting times ahead of you Mr. Potter. Now I may not be up for a run, but perhaps we can engage in another familiar activity?"

Harry brightened up, "How about a duel instead? You are already here headmaster, and I could really use some practice. We can go down to the training grounds and just practice lightly. Please?"

Dumbledore chuckled at how the young man was able to grasp the point of conversation so easily, "I don't suppose I could just convince you to go back and get some more sleep?"

Immediately shaking his head no, the headmaster smiled at the eager young man, "I suppose we could do a small time duel. I would like to see how your chain spells are coming. After all someone has to keep this old wizard in some type of shape. Shall I meet you down there in five? I would like to get some pumpkin juice before we begin."

Harry exclaimed and darted off towards the training grounds, AKA the quittditch pitch. As Harry approached the quittditch pitch he felt something was a little off in the air. Taking note of this infraction he pulled out his wand, which was a gift he had received from the headmaster at age seven. It was basic, eleven inches, Oak, and a hippogriff heartstring. This wand wasn't set to his specific skills, but he was going to get a new wand today, that would be crafted to his liking. The Hippogriff heartstring actually belonged to a hippogriff Harry had met when he was a baby, and died when he was six. The wand was effective, but he one day hoped for one that would be specially fit to his magical core.

The green eyed boy raised his wand with precision as he listened as closely as he could. Then in a tight circle he waved his wand, "Homenum Revalio."

One of Harry's teachers, Mad-Eye Moody, had taught Harry the revealing spell recently, and at first he thought it hadn't worked, but suddenly his wand turned a faint blue, and Harry spun around as he felt a magical presence enter the air, "Expelliarmus!"

The headmaster was then there in all his glory, with no wand in his hand yet, and dodged the curse Harry had thrown. The young man growled, "Perificus Totalus! Stupefy! Immobilize!"

Dumbledore easily weaved through the set of chain curses as he complimented, "Very good Harry, but you are going to have to be much faster than that."

Suddenly Dumbledore started flicking his wand without saying the incantation, however as each spell came towards Harry he darted in between them, only raising a shield when he felt too many coming in to dodge efficiently, "Protego!:

At the desperate cry of Harry's voice a solid blue shield popped up in front of Harry covering him from head to toe. This was enough to surprise the headmaster, so much so that he almost got hit by the young man's curses, "Diffindo! Expulso! Reducto!"

Harry didn't power the spells very much, but he did send them with speed that very few could match. It was told to him that his speed and precision would always be his greatest weapon in a duel. Dumbledore had to beat away the first curse with a wandless type of magic, then apparated out of the way only to appear behind Harry throwing a powerful stunner, which was supposed to end the fight. However the now eleven year old boy was full of surprises as he flung his wand in a short pattern causing the over powered stupefy to stop in its track. Dumbledore who had never seen this type of spell smiled at his pupil, "Well done Harry. Was that the anti-jinx curse your mother was working on?"

The green eyed boy who was taught to never be distracted in a duel merely nodded as he began running towards the headmaster, flinging curses, at a high speed. Now the old headmaster was being forced to block with shields, as the curse number rose and rose, but before Harry could get into a point range blast radius, Dumbledore flicked his wand up, taking the oldest Potter scion straight to the ground hard, and disarming him for good measure.

Dumbledore began clapping slowly, "Your training is progressing very beautifully Mr. Potter. I fear you will be standing up to fourth and fifth years with that speed of a lion you have. Gryffindor will have a very promising young student come September first."

Harry stood up groaning, but still bowed to the headmaster as his opponent had bested him, "Thank you headmaster. My chain work still comes in threes, though I am still working on the five chain with Uncle Remus."

The headmasters eyes were twinkling madly as he put a hand on the young man's shoulders, "I dare say your family will be awaking, and our duel was most refreshing. To see the young take such interest in their studies makes my old heart grow fond of the many great memories. I hope that when you make it to Hogwarts you will continue this training and studies. I believe your parents made it to where you would be most knowledgeable in all your subjects, and remember these last words of wisdom with that thought in mind. A friend in need can sometimes be the best there will be."

The words at the time seemed to go over the young man's head, but in the future, those words would bring great impact to the boys life. As the two walked towards the porch of Potter Manor, which was honestly a modest three story home, that was a stereo typical white picket fence home, with a large patio, and a huge land that was surrounded by wards, they discussed Hogwarts. Dumbledore and Harry had big plans to unite the houses of Hogwarts and change the way people thought. Harry saw Dumbledore as an idealist, however in truth the man was a realist, Harry just didn't realize how far his actions would go as the boy who lived.

When they arrived in through the Kitchen a familiar site and smell came to his senses. There his mom was in her red apron cooking a small breakfast of eggs and bacon, while his dad sat groggily at the table reading the morning addition of the Daily Prophet. The other two additions to the table were his two siblings. The oldest Jack Charlus Potter, and the youngest Rosalie Petunia Potter. Jack was an exact replica of their father James, who was a little skinnier, and had the glasses, while Rosalie looked kind of like his mum and Sirius. Harry always found this odd, but both have sworn up and down that the girl must just have pulled it from her Black roots on James side of the family. Rosalie had the dark red hair, and little freckles on her cheeks, while her body was very skinny and almost frail. Jack was 9, and Rosalie was 8, and this would be the first time in living memory that Harry would be away from his siblings this coming September.

Harry had grown very protective over his two siblings, and even though Jack wanted to train with Harry, he was barely allowed to do that. This left the two to bond over quittditch, and it really had brought the two closer together. Rosalie and Harry had always had the better relationship though. Harry always enjoyed playing the over protective big brother, and Jack didn't like that, while Rosalie found it very amusing. For an eight year old, Rosalie had some very sharp wit that her oldest brother just could never get enough of, they bonded through the little stuff that a lot of people often overlooked, but the family all in all was very close.

The headmaster stood just outside the kitchen with a deep smile on his face, "Ah I smell your mothers cooking Mr. Potter, I regret catching breakfast with the elves, but here is where I will leave you. Go join your family, and enjoy your day. I will be back by tonight with the rest of the party to celebrate your eleventh birthday. Good day Mr. Potter, and remember the heart is always warmest around family."

With those words and a soft pop the headmaster was gone. Harry then strolled through the backdoor leading him straight into the kitchen to be greeted with a warming hug from his mum and a kiss on the cheek, "Morning Harry. Happy birthday. Did you have a nice morning?"

Harry nodded as his dad stood up with a smile bringing him in for a hug as well, "Happy Birthday Harry."

Harry responded, "Yes the headmaster and I were dueling on quittditch pitch. It was nice, and unexpected gift from Professor Dumbledore. My chain spells need work still, and my aggressive strategy. Mum your anti-jinx spell worked perfectly, I almost managed to hit the headmaster with his surprise. I was close twice actually, I brought up the shield Sirius and I have been working on, and I almost hit him there too. Not by skill mind you, but if I ever manage to hit the old man it will have to be by surprise."

James laughed as he fist bumped his son, and Jack gave a tight smile, clearly jealous that his brother was able to practice such advanced magic. Jack and Rosalie both got practice wands at age seven, so sometimes the brothers would trade spells for fun. Of course that was without their parents knowing, as the wards kept the trace off the property. Harry had already taught his brother to cast a weak shield and even a few trick like spells, but he had yet to get off a proper stunner, or blasting curse. Rosalie like their mum was actually rather good at the basic charms. She was able to unlock doors, and even cast a basic levitation charm, which at eight years old is rather impressive. Jack spoke quietly to his brother, "You think we can convince everyone to a pick up game of quittditch after we get your wand? I think everyone will be here around three!"

Harry and Jack instantly started talking about putting together a full quittditch game once everyone had come over, and around that time two men came storming into the room with fireworks erupting around the room, both were yelling, "Happy Birthday Prongslet!"

Harry groaned as Sirius and Remus came into the kitchen. The mayhem didn't last long, as the Potter Matriarch had pulled her wand out so fast striking down all the prank magic, leaving Sirius and Remus looking a little downtrodden. Lily Potter however smirked, "For twenty years I have had to deal with you three idiots casting prank magic, I would think you'll have invented something original that would not be so easily taken down by little ole me."

Harry and Jack greeted the down trodden marauders, "Morning Moony, morning Padfoot."

Harry embraced his godfather and honorary uncle cheerfully, and they took their designated seats at the table, while breakfast was being served by the mother of the house. Rosalie spoke to Sirius excitedly, "Where is Aunty Emma Siri?"

Sirius barely looked up as he began devouring his meal, "She went into work this morning for a little bit, she promised to be in later, but duty calls kiddo."

Emmeline Black nee Vance, was obviously Sirius' wife. Sirius' very pregnant wife, whom was a research unspeakable for the Department of Mysteries. She was also Rosalie's godmother, whom she was very close with. Harry turned to Remus, "Are you two going to Diagon Ally with us?"

Remus smiled at his nephew, "Of course cub. Getting your official wand is big right of passage in our world. We wouldn't miss it for anything."

Grinning, Harry responded, "Speaking of rights of passage in our world, look what the headmaster dropped off to me this morning!"

With a flick of his hand a letter flew to his hand from his coat pocket, producing his Hogwarts letter. This caused the adults at the table to cheer, and even the siblings were super excited for there older brother. Lily who was reading the letter nearing tears smiled at her son, "Looks like Diagon Alley will be a hot spot for us over the next few weeks."

The adults around the table conversed easily, while Jack and Harry spoke of the coming year, "You know your going to write to me all the time right? Its not fair that you and Neville get to go off without me!"

Neville Longbottom was Harry's best friend in the world. The two had been inseparable ever since they were small children, and had trained a lot together growing up. Alice Longbottom, who was Harry's godmother, brought Neville around a lot to give him a more family environment. The family home of Longbottom was rather tarnished after the death of Frank and his mum whom were killed by Bellatrix and the Lestrange brothers. Thankfully Neville had been out of the country with his mother, while Frank had to work back at home. The two Longbottoms didn't go quietly though. The were attacked by a half dozen death eaters and only Bellatrix and Rodolphus walked away from it. Neville was quite proud to be that son, and Harry was proud to have Neville as a friend.

The two friends often talked about what life will be like in Gryffindor, but it honestly never felt real until today. Harry knew that Neville had gotten his letter yesterday from Professor Mccgonagal, and he was so excited he accidentally caused his bedroom curtains to be set on fire.

Responding to his brother he laughed, "Just a year and you will be joining us Jack."

Lily who responded sympathetically winked, "It might be sooner than you think!"

The siblings all stopped and stared at their mother, but she refused to meet any of their eyes, and they dismissed it as there mother being cryptic.

After breakfast was done and the table was cleared, the family was gathering up around the floo preparing to head off to Diagon Ally. It didn't take long to get there through magical transportation, and in order to avoid a media siting they instantly set out for Ollivanders. As the group of seven entered the building Moony stood by the door in order to make sure no members of the media spotted the boy who lived and tried to chase him down for an interview or some other rubbish like that. When Harry made his over to the counter he spotted an old man with the widest eyes he had ever seen. Garrick Ollivander had always reminded Harry of a mad scientist he used to watch in a muggle movie called 'Back to the Future', which amused and creeped Harry out all the time.

Mr. Ollivander took a big smell as if he could smell the magic in the room, "Ah Mr. Potter I was wondering when you would be coming to buy a wand from me. Let me see what I can do for you. Ah Mr. Potter Sr. eleven inches Mahagony, Unicorn hair, I trust that it has served you well? Mrs. Potter, Willow wand, with a Thestral hair?"

Both adults nodded in amazement while Ollivander turned to Sirius and Remus, "Ah Mr. Black, you were using the Oak, with a dragon heartstring. Mr. Lupin, ah yes the Cypress, and Unicorn Hair, very good combination, one of my finer crafts. Now for Mr. Harry Potter, I do believe I have just the wand for you."

After a few minutes of searching around Ollivander brought back seven boxes, as he claimed they were a magical number, and had him try variations of what his family had used in the past, with nothing, but destructive results. After those failures, Ollivander decided that the wand completely and undoubtedly chooses the wizard, and that he was foolish to think one with such potential would just follow in line with his family. James Potter came over and squeezed a stressed Harry's shoulder at one point telling him, "It took Ollivander almost an hour to pair me with my wand, he gave me a combination of every Potter since Gryffindor himself I think. Finally he decided that I was to temporal for the wands he was trying and the very next one worked for me. Just be patient, your wand is like a life long partner, its very important, you understand?"

Harry merely smiled and nodded at his dad while Ollivander stopped and stared, "You have a wand already? Interesting, may I?"

Harry drew the wand speaking carefully, "A gift from Headmaster Dumbledore. He thought it necessary that I begin magical training as early as possible. We never decided if the wand was a good match, but it was a full powered wand. I was also rather attached to Hippogriff that the core comes from, and I have never felt dissatisfaction with the wand."

Ollivander looked it over smiling, "Very interesting. The wand has a master, and I believe that to be you Mr. Potter, however I wonder why it does not work to its optimum ability in your hand, with this being the case...perhaps..."

Before Ollivander could finish that thought he stormed towards the back, while Sirius whistled, "That dude is bat sh-"

Lily cut him off, "PADFOOT!"

Sirius looked guiltily at the ground, "Sorry Lils."

When Ollivander came back he was looking pale as he handed Harry the box. Harry instantly felt something stir inside of him as he opened the box revealing a slim looking wand. When he grabbed it, a powerful surge went through the room blowing out the windows and creating a small little storm of bright red power. James and Lily were both blown back at the force of the blow and Ollivander stared with a tear in his eye, "Forgive me Mr. Potter, it seems I have made a grave error. The wand has connected with you, I wish it could be different, but, __The wand chooses the wizard. That much has always been clear to those of us who have studied wand lore. These connections are complex. An initial attraction, and then a mutual quest for experience, the wand learning from the wizard, the wizard from the wand.__ For better or for worse the wand is now yours. I dare not try to give you another, while that wand remains intact."

Harry asked quietly as his parents and siblings stared at him in awe and worry, "What is so special about this wand Mr. Ollivander?"

Putting a hand on the boys shoulder he spoke gently, "Eleven inches, phoenix feather, Holly wood. It is certainly an unusual combination, but it is powerful, for the only one who wielded it did great things, terrible, but great. The phoenix whose feather created that wand, gave another feather, just one other feather. The one who wields the other wand, gave you that scar."

The room seemed to drop several degree at that, while Lily Potter immediately intervened, "Surely there is another wand that he can try? This is a dangerous connection for my son to have with the Dark Lord."

Ollivander sighed, "We should not fear the dead Mrs. Potter, only respect them, and the things they accomplished. The Dark Lord did great feats of magic with the brother of this wand. I expect great things from Mr. Potter as long as he wields that wand. I fear if he were to try a different one, it would come at a great cost to his magic."

James Potter asked, "What kind of cost?"

"Nothing to severe be assured, but I fear he would never accomplish his optimum potential without this wand at his side." Ollivander spoke cryptically.

Sirius was at Harry's side in an instant, "I support this Harry. Mr. Ollivander is right, and we forge our own paths. This could be a sign, and not necessarily a bad one. Please Mr. Ollivander we will take this one."

The head of the Black family gently patted his Godson on the shoulder as James paid the seven galleons for the wand. As they left Ollivander called out one last time, "Treat your wand well Mr. Potter, is it a partner for life, and it will bring you great power."

With that the family all whisked away out of the ally. No one wanted to be scene just at the moment as the entire group had turned several shades paler. Even as young as Rosalie and Jack were, they understood an omen when one happened right before there very eyes. The question of the matter now was, could Harry carve a different path of redemption from the brother of the wand that killed so many.

****(A/N) This story will be a lot like the antithesis of the Dark Lords Rising which is a powerful Dark Harry. It is going to follow the canon events pretty closely. However this is going to be different, it will be a Hufflepuff Harry story, but don't think this odd just yet. This is more of a prelude for what is to come. In two weeks I will be back with more updates for this story, but I just wanted to get feel for if people would like to read something like this. If I don't get a positive response, I may just let it fall by the way side. If I get a positive response out of this then I may just go ahead and publish the next chapter next Sunday. I promise I will update every Sunday, you have my word. But give me some thoughts and ideas behind this story. Harry will be powerful, but be he is not going to be Overly Powerful. The first year will seem like a cake walk, but after that its going to get difficult. Please review, and tell me what you want!****

****PS. The pairing is Hannah Abbot with a bit of Susan Bones. Neville will play the best friend. Weasleys will play a little part in this story. Dumbledore is for once going to be the good guy/mentor in my stories. Cheers!****


	2. A Headmasters Test

****Chapter 2****

That night at Potter Manor a small party with the families closest friends had gathered. The celebration was not at all hindered by the cryptic visit to Ollivanders, however that didn't mean it wasn't on the mind of all who had attended the wand shop that morning.

The Potters had a pretty good day after the wand shop incident. A large pick up game of quittditch was played, where Sirius, Remus, Neville, and Tonks, played against Harry, James, Jack, and Rosalie. Where the Potters had easily come up victorious when Harry swooped over Neville to snatch the snitch. James had gloated that age was no matter in quittditch when you had the raw Potter talents!

Rosalie was hanging out with her Godmother Emmeline, with whom she was really close with. Jack was doing the opposite speaking with his Godfather Remus, whom was the youngest Potter son was closest to. Harry thought everyone had favorites in the family, and that was fine with everyone, so that way no one ever lacked the need for attention. It kept the family close together, because while they all had different relationships there was no love lost in the family.

After that the party had settled down a bit, Harry was conversing with members of the Order of the Phoenix that still hung around to monitor death eater movement, but mostly the group was there in title only. The recruitment outside of the families that were already in it was non existent for now, as the signs the Dark Lords followers had dispersed. Yet Dumbledore still led the group to ensure that if another Dark Lord were to rise, that they would have some type of initial defense set up. Whether people agreed with that was no matter, as they were always going to follow their leader of the light.

As Harry grew older he began to question things Dumbledore did, but his idle complex of the man was simply to high. He had witnessed the aged headmaster do incredible magic. At the age ten he witnessed a furious duel between Dumbledore and Professor Flitwick,which left a tremendous amount of respect and awe over the two men.

As the night began to wound down he said goodbye to his cousin Tonks, and Aunt Andromeda, while the adults were clearly discussing some type of politics that Harry had no interest in. Something about the Ministry pushing the goblins to far. Harry had a good relationship with the Goblins so he never felt the need to worry about them, however he respected their military power, which he learned about from the Goblin Leader himself.

Neville and Harry were sitting together in the boys bedroom which was covered with quittditch memorabilia, training gear, along with pictures of his family, and himself. The boys were discussing the up times of Hogwarts, and the Gryffindor house they would undoubtedly be sorted into, "When we join the house of lions, maybe Mccgonagal will cut us some slack for sleeping in her classes since she knows how far ahead we are?"

Harry looked at his best friend like he had just told him that the sky was really green, "Neville mate, I don't think there is anything in this world that would convince Professor Mccgonagal to cut us some slack. Besides, professor Flitwick said the best way to perfect technique is to be able to teach it to others, and learn it again each time you teach it."

Neville waved this aside, "We will be the most powerful first years, and I have heard Malfoy is going to try and lead a power struggle in the Slytherin house, because Daddy has so much power. If we are going to stop him, then we will have to stop him with force."

Harry shook his head, "I don't know Nev, Dumbledore always taught us to lead by example, not by power. Its how he leads the light."

"Mom says that even Dumbledore is not always right." Neville pointed out.

Harry sighed, the two had been through the argument a hundred times, "But that is what makes him our leader, its not that he's perfect, but that he isn't. It makes him human, and you aren't a good human or wizard if you don't learn from each mistake. Mum says that to me all the time."

Neville shrugged, "Its going to be snakes vs. lions, and maybe the badgers, will join us, or maybe the eagles will, but regardless it always come down to the light and the dark. You know that, right?"

Knowing better to argue with Neville when he thought he was right, he wisely just nodded his head, "Just remember, no matter what house the two of us end up in, we are still friends right?"

Neville laughed, "Unless your a filthy snake!"

Harry countered, "You never seemed to be able to say that to Daphne, you always get flustered when she comes over and speaks to us at the formal events."

Turning a ugly red Neville yelled, "She is a claw, no doubt. She is to smart Harry, there is no way she will be a Slytherin."

"Her whole family were Slytherin, but they weren't death eaters. I am just saying we shouldn't base being friends with someone because of what house they are in, that's just stupid." Harry spoke logically.

The Potter's oldest son had always been the voice of reason, and he had convinced his best friend of many things, but one thing would never change, and that was Neville's discontent with Slytherin. The way he saw it was that Slytherin Death Eaters came into his house and took his dad from him, while The Dark Lord himself was the supposed heir to Slytherin. The two turned their conversation to their friends that they had met at the balls over the years, and where each of them would end up. Most were fairly easy based on their families, while people like Daphne, Tracy, Mandy, Anthony, and Zacharias were questionable. While others were really obvious like Hannah Abbot, Susan Bones, Weasley, and Malfoy.

It came down to the fact that the purebloods were generally pretty easy to sort, while half-bloods and muggleborns were a lot harder to sort. Jack popped in at some point joining the conversation of Hogwarts and how jealous he was going to be with the two boys going off on an adventure without him. That was until a patronus came in the room telling the boys to come downstairs for the cutting of the cake, and to say goodnight to everyone.

When they made it down most of the adults had gathered in the kitchen with smiles, but some were clearly unhappy with where the previous conversation had gone, but Harry tried not to pay to close attention to that as the Headmaster was standing by his dad, "Glad to see you again headmaster, were you recovering from our happening this afternoon?"

Harry joked about their duel while some looked confused the headmaster merely chuckled, "It is good to feel young again my boy, and when we have these so called happenings it reminds me of better days."

The green eyed boy knew he was talking about his best friend growing up Gellert Grindelvald. The headmaster had told him many stories of an idealistic young man he grew up with, however he never really and truly understood the impact of those words, and that moment wouldn't come for many years. He of course knew that Dumbledore had defeated the man, but the importance of that moment in 1945, would follow the oldest Potters son for his whole life whether he realized it or not.

A quick chorus was sung of Happy Birthday and the cake was cut, which led to a rather hilarious comment where Dumbledore took a bite exclaiming, "Lemon cake!"

The headmaster and pupil had always taken amusement to their favorite flavor being something so sweet, which made some adults grimace and others chuckle. Finally however Dumbledore stood up, "Now I wish to say a few words, before I head off. First I would like to wish Mr. Potter a happy birthday. His training is nonstop and tireless in his efforts to help become a figure for the light one day. I would also like to congratulate Mrs. Potter on her acceptance onto the Hogwarts staff. She will be replacing Professor Babbling for Ancient Runes this year. It was her hope to keep her family close for as long as possible, and with her credentials I dared not deny her, in our search for a new Professor, congratulations Professor Potter."

Harry's eyes lit up at the prospect while he turned to his mom looking for some confirmation, and she merely nodded her head, "Jack and Rosalie will be staying in the Potter home outside of Hogsmeade. Remus has agreed to continue their tuition out there, as long as he could have his old room. While I will be the only Professor not living in the castle, I will still be able to spend time with you kids, and work the job I have always wanted. I can floo to and from home when I am needed, and Remus is very capable at teaching Runes if something were to happen to your siblings."

Neville and Harry both looked at Matriarch of the Potter family in awe. The oldest Potter also realized that it made a bit of a political statement. He had been studying politics since he was old enough to read, due to being the heir to the Potter family, and this said that the light family would stand together. Alice Longbottom then came forward, "I too have decided to move to take a job in Hogsmeade Neville. I thought it would keep us all close over the years, and now that you won't be home all the time, I can go back to work, but still be close enough to come visit on weekends or something along those lines."

The two boys exchanged looks, something was up. The adults were making some power moves, while this was supposed to be a time of peace. Harry looked at his father, "There is something you aren't telling us. Mom loves her job with the unspeakables, she wouldn't leave it, unless she had to. I also know how much you two love Potter Manor, but to activate the Potter family home in Hogsmeade would mean that you need to stay close, not that you want to. You could've activated a number of houses much closer to Hogwarts, but you chose the closest one. So what is happening that is requiring everyone to move. I recognize a power play when I see one."

Sirius whistled, "The kid is eleven years old, and he is putting all of you on the spot."

Lily and James both glared at the Godfather in the room, while Lily spoke softly, "Sweety you know I have always wanted to work back at Hogwarts, the first place in the magical world I ever really knew. James never felt the same attachment to it after what happened that Halloween, or he probably would try to teach at the school as well. We really just saw the opening, and I wanted to take it. My bosses have seen it as beneficial that they could put someone of my caliber in Hogwarts in order to bring more efficient spell casters. Not to put down Professor Babbling, I had her as well, but we need inventors and young minds teaching, which is why I approached the Headmaster the moment I heard the job was open. I didn't tell you because I didn't know if I would get the job."

Harry's eyes narrowed, he recognized a lie when saw one, he was after all taught Occulmency by the very two best, Snape, and Professor Dumbledore. Looking to the Headmaster he seemed to be watching with interest, and nothing more than indifference. This allowed Harry to calm down a moment, and look at the situation with a calm mind, that his training allowed him to do. He searched conclusion by conclusion in a matter of seconds, before he looked at the Headmaster, "So who is you don't trust at Hogwarts Headmaster? Are you really going to send me into the dark? That is clearly why you hired mum, Unspeakables are out of the Hogwarts budget, but by bringing in one of the few known unspeakable researchers, then it makes whoever you are worried about cautious. I could make a few deductions, and that leaves me to think its our new Defense teacher?"

The adults stared at the young man in awe, while Neville was quickly catching up with Harry's line of thought, as the boy truly wasn't stupid, "What's wrong with Quirrel? I met him last year, he seemed normal enough, maybe a bit crazy...is he in the dark faction?"

Dumbledore smiled, and before the adults could protest Dumbledore stopped them, "The boys are very advanced in Occulmency, I think if they have figured this out, it would be safer to bring them into the loop, but not tonight. Before you two go back to Hogwarts I will bring you two into this conversation, however you will have to promise me that you won't tell anyone."

Harry looked at Dumbledore suspiciously, "Still testing me headmaster?"

The adults all looked incredulously at Harry, the Headmaster merely tipped his pointy hat, "Knight to E6 Mr. Potter, very good."

This gave Harry and Dumbledore a staring contest when he chipped, "Did I pass?"

"Splendidly."

With that the Headmaster wished everyone a goodnight, while both mentor and pupil wore a satisfied smile on their faces. Everyone followed the headmaster out except Neville, and Ms. Longbottom who were staying at Potter Manor for the night. Lily was the first to chastise her son, "You shouldn't speak to the Headmaster that way Harry."

Said young man shrugged, "Mum you know how he is. He wouldn't have told you all to keep it from me, if it wasn't a test. I am surprised you didn't all pick up on it."

James Potter sighed, "Your to young to know the things you know Harry. I have seen how it has effected you, and I don't like how much the headmaster plays with you, as if you are a toy, or worse maybe even a weapon."

Jack and Rosalie were watching the verbal volley, while Harry laughed, "Someone has to keep me on my toes around here. The headmaster has looked after me since I was really small. He understands I need to be challenged, and kept sharp. Jack and Rosalie both have relationships with the headmaster, but you don't ever say anything to them."

James and Lily exchanged looks, and James spoke, "You are much closer to the headmaster than anyone else alive right now."

Lily nodded, "I think you look forward to his visits more than you do Sirius now, and he use to be your whole world!"

"Mum, Dumbledore is trying to prepare me for the future. I know you guys don't tell me anything. Don't you think its a sign of maturity that I don't ask. Sometimes I feel I need to know things, like why you are going to Hogwarts next year. You treat me my age, but I think I have earned the right to be treated a little older. I don't break many rules, I always do my chores, and I stay on top of a training regime that most fourth years couldn't handle. I love Sirius to death, but I am trying to make myself the very best I can be, and Dumbledore recognizes that, why can't you guys?" Harry accused.

James and Lily both seemed to age before Harry's eyes. Lily took the other two siblings out of the room, while James took a knee in front of his son with a sad smile on his face, "Sometimes I feel that telling you the prophesy was the worse move I have ever made as a parent. It has changed you Harry. In the past year you have done nothing, but train. You use your magic like no other young man your age has ever done. You are driven by a sense of duty, and as a Potter I can respect that, and coming from you I know Grandpa Charlus is looking down smiling at the bright future our family will have because you are so driven, but Harry you are only eleven years old. The prophesy isn't going to come true any time soon, and while I know you want to be the chosen one everyone needs, you have to remember that no matter what you are still my son, and that I want to do what is best for you."

Harry felt tears bubble in his eyes as his father spoke to him with such affection, "I know dad, but when that day comes, I never want Jack, Rosalie, and Neville to have to be in the middle of me and this prophesy because I was not strong enough. Professor Snape on the first day of our training told me how lazy and weak Potters were because of our arrogance, and after that session was over he never said it to me again. He attacked my mind over and over and over again, but I was not going to quit, it was only when mum came in and told him to stop was when he quit. I would've gone until I dropped, because that is the way you brought me up. I wish Jack could prove the same thing to Professor Snape, because I know Jack can do it to. You raised us to never give up, and I won't give up on this prophesy until it is over, and I have won. I may be eleven years old, but this prophesy has made me take responsibility. I recognize my duty, because you explained it to a frightened ten year old boy. A year later I am only eleven and I am still terrified of that destiny, but I won't show that to Jack, or Neville, because they need to see my example and follow it, just like Dumbledore does for all of you."

Lily Potter was standing at the edge of the kitchen, out of site, but she heard every word her son had said, and it simply broke her heart, while James embraced his son who was on the edge of tears. She could hear her husband whisper soothing words into his sons ear, "Its going to be okay Harry. One day you are going to lead us all to a better future. I believe it because I can see your work ethic, I believe it, your mom believes it, and clearly Dumbledore believes it. The headmaster and I may not see eye to eye on everything, but he was right on one thing, son you are destined for great things. Your mum and I can are going to do everything to keep you out of this fight, we are going to do everything to make sure if the fight makes it to you that you will decimate your enemies, just like my father did. Never forget that you are a Potter, and Potter's don't go down without taking a dozen death eaters with them." James pulled apart from his son looking him in the eye, "But it will take a thousand death eaters to keep your mum and I out of this. Harry I know you feel the responsibility of all this, and that is natural you are only eleven for Merlin's sake. Just remember your never alone. I know you don't want to show your brother and the others your tears, but your mum and I are here no matter what. Do you understand me? No matter the time, no matter the day, no matter our mood, you come to us if you feel its becoming to much. We may not make it any less, but we will help you get through it, and as your father, and a Potter I give you my word on this."

The father and son embraced again, while Lily came into the kitchen massaging her sons head as he wept into his father's shoulder. It was such an emotional moment to see her son become a young man, and to see just what his future would hold for him, and it was nothing short of inspirational to show just how we was going to handle it. The Potter's went to bed that night as very proud parents.

Over the next few weeks James Potter took a very forward role in his sons training. He taught him tricks in dueling, and even delved into some very basic wards that Harry excelled in. Harry and Jack had even talked about sneaking the youngest Potter son into the castle some weekend so he could give him the tour, once he himself had established the grounds and everything. The boy took that enthusiastically, and promised Harry he would practice his dueling technique so that way when they got back together he may throw up a better fight against his brother, whom he wanted more than anything to prove himself to.

The day of shopping at Diagon Ally had finally come, and the ally was of course packed as usual. The day had gone without hitch until he went to Madame Malkins. Harry and Lily alone strolled into the robe shop, while the others had gone back to quittditch shop, while the mother and son ordered Harry's size of Hogwarts robes, when Mordred's reincarnation walked over to the oldest Potter son, "Potter. It seems that the Dark Lord didn't render you to a squib after all. I wasn't sure if you would get a Hogwarts acceptance letter without magic."

Harry slammed his occulmency shields down on his anger taking control of the situation, "I didn't know they accepted blonde ferrets into Hogwarts, magical or not. Guess we were both wrong."

Draco growled, "Watch yourself Potter. The Gryffindor's won't be able to watch your back all the time, and that one time they aren't I will be there. Just remember a Slytherin is only as cunning as his ambition to get things done."

Sarcastically Harry responded, "And you just have that in spades don't you Drakey?"

For a second Harry thought the boy might go for his wand, but instead he merely held his chin up at him, when his mum entered the area again, "Come mother, I think I am done dirtying myself in the company of half-bloods, and his less than desirable company."

Lily clamped a hand on her son's shoulder as fast as she could to prevent him from drawing his wand right then and there. She knew he could get away with underage magic at the manor, but here in the alley with witnesses, he could get into some serious trouble. Harry seemed to recognize the move, and glared at the future Slytherin. As the Malfoys had walked out Madame Malkin apologized for her customers rude behavior, but both Potter's waved her off. Harry however was still seething. He had gotten all of his school stuff, and a familiar that was a snowy white hawk he named Hedwig. It was a magnificent creature, that Harry was sure his friend Hagrid would fall in love with.

When Harry made it back to his dad he mentioned what Malfoy had said when they were alone, and he growled, "If you kids weren't so young we could blood feud those bigots, but your mum was right, its a good thing you kept your cool. Now come on, you should get to bed, the express leaves at eleven tomorrow, but we have to get their early to meet up with the friends and such. Get some rest son."

Harry hugged his dad goodnight, and in passing said the same to his mother, but as he laid in bed that night, he knew big adventures and times were ahead of him this coming year at Hogwarts, and he couldn't wait for his next big adventure.

****(A/N) I used this chapter to basically set up relationships and precedents. The next chapter will cover the express, a flashback, and hopefully the sorting. See you all next Sunday! Cheers!****


	3. The House of Loyalty

****Chapter 3****

The day to set out to Hogwarts was upon the Potter family. It had been 13 years since the Potter's had last stepped on to Kings Cross station for platform 9 ¾s and the family was very emotional over the matter, or at least the parents were.

Harry knew this was the first step into the wizarding world. The real wizarding world, that would introduce him to his future friends, and maybe even one day a future spouse. The thought made the boy grimace, but he also understood that almost everyone in Magical England that grew up within the mother country generally married someone from home, which to many witches and wizards was Hogwarts.

The platform was as usual a walking conundrum of people. Old friends greeted each other, and family members said goodbye to each other, as if it was the first time, or the last time. Something about the Hogwarts express just brought that out about people. His father must have greeted a few dozen families that he had gone to school with, some with begrudging respect, some with great joy, and some with an obvious animosity, but it never affected the mood, they just kept going down the length of the express continuously greeting people. It was almost a social event these days, but Harry understood the politics of reuniting with old acquaintances, especially while the time was of peace.

The word peace was relative however, he had been informed that Professor Quirrel was not to be trusted, and that he was to avoid him outside of class hours at all times. The Headmaster would not tell Harry just what the man was after, but that it was priceless artifact that could start a war if lost. Dumbledore believed the man to be his own agent, but that didn't mean it was impossible that the man was a death eater or worse.

As Harry prepared to board the express he hugged his Godfather making him promise to take care of himself while he was gone. He then turned to hug his dad, "Looks like the marauders legacy is about to be continued."

The oldest Potter might have had a tear in his eye, but he quickly wiped it away. Harry then reached for his sister Rosalie, pulling her into a tight hug, "I will see you in a few weeks, take care of our idiot will ya?"

Her sister laughed while Jack groaned, but then brought his brother into a hug as well. The three siblings all held each other for a few moments, then separated. This would be the first time that any of them would be apart for more than a few days, and it would be an adjustment for the family. Harry then turned to his mum and gave her a two finger salute, "I will see you at the feast tonight mum."

The women shook her head opening her arms, and Harry sighed, knowing that the family affection had to continue for a few moments longer. As he held his mother, he felt something move inside of him, as if it was a sin that he didn't hug his mother more, and he made note to do it more often, once he was home. As the two separated the women had to remove tears from her eyes. Harry waved goodbye to his family as he stepped to Neville speaking clearly, "Lets go Nev, it seems to the next adventure is within our steps."

Groaning the only Longbottom male responded, "Sounding more like Dumbledore everyday."

Taking that as a compliment the boys boarded the train, and took the first empty compartment they came to. When they took their seats Harry sighed looking out the window as the train whistle wailed. The boys had waited for this moment to come for many years, and the moment had finally arrived, where they would be heading off to Hogwarts.

The train at some point took off, but neither boy noticed as they had rapidly began to engage in a conversation on quittditch, and their soon to be new residence of Gryffindor. The train ride went by for about an hour, before they got some visitors, the first came in the form of the red headed step child himself, "Hey Neville, Harry, what's going on mates?"

Neville and Harry instantly traded exasperated looks as Ronald Weasley opened his mouth, being the politer of the two, Harry spoke back, "Hey Ron, how was your Summer?"

"Oh it was alright. Mum was driving me crazy trying to catch the twins in their acts of pranking. Its honestly not right that I can get dragged into it, but what are you going to do right?" He inquired rhetorically.

Neville who knew Ron would be a housemate of his in just a few hours spoke nicely, "Any ideas who the other Gryffindor will be?"

Ron shrugged, "Other than the three of us I don't know. Not many pureblood girls entering Gryffindor that I know of, so I can't really say for sure, ya know?"

Harry had come to the same conclusion, figuring that unless someone through a wrench into the grinder the Pureblood Gryffindors were already knowing where they were heading. The three made small talk for a short time, before a bushy haired witch came knocking on the door, where Harry shot an opening spell at it with lightning speed, leaving the girl in a shock, but Neville spoke lightly, "Hello. Muggleborn?"

The girl nodded her head fast, and Neville offered her the seat next to his, while the girl swooped in graciously taking the seat, "Thank you, I have been searching for a compartment for a while now, but most of the kids were very rude."

Harry snorted, "That's purebloods for you. Sadly you must have been unlucky, had you run into other muggleborns they probably would have brought you in immediately."

Neville agreed, "Yeah you especially have to watch out for the green patches, Slytherin is mostly bigoted, with very few exceptions."

The girl offered her hand towards the boys, "I am Hermione Granger, by the way. I didn't catch your names, but can I assume that you are also Muggleborns?"

Neville was the first to take her hand, then Ron never took her's but told her his name, and Harry finally spoke to her, "Harry Potter, and I am a half-blood, my friends here are purebloods though, and half of me comes from a pureblood, so I know what your going through. My mum told me to watch out for Muggleborns, and help them if I could."

She flashed the boy a smile, showing off her buck teeth, but then gasped, "Harry James Potter? I read about you in the rise and fall of the dark arts. You defeated the Dark Lord Vold-"

Neville cut her off, "Don't say his name. It is still taboo in our society."

Harry waved him off, "Scaredy pants here just doesn't like to here it, but yes I am Harry James Potter, and the acclaimed Boy who lived, but its nonsense, don't listen to any of it. I am just another first year making his first trip to Hogwarts on a train full of first years who are in the same spot as me. I don't deserve recognition for doing something I can't remember, or was intelligent enough to appreciate. So please, none of that."

Hermione had the gall to blush while she began to apologize, but Harry merely shrugged, "I have a feeling I will be telling that to a lot of people over the next few weeks. So tell us what you know about magic."

Over the next few hours the four kids talked about magic and its basic concepts. Harry went into to teacher mode, while Neville just added some stuff in, and talked about things Harry wasn't very adequate at like Herbology. Hermione who was a sponge, seemed to absorb everything the two said, while Ron just taught her about quittditch when entertainment and sport came up. This led to talk about cinemas in the muggle world in which Harry and Neville both had been to a few times, while Ron thought they were all crazy for such an idea. As the sun began to set Harry's least favorite person attempted to join the compartment, "Hello Potter, I would like a word with you."

He instantly sat down across from Harry as two larger boys stood by the door. Harry recognized them as Crabbe and Goyle, "What is it you want Malfoy, not only do you come in not asking if I would like to speak with you, but rudely cut off my friends from the rather pleasant and light conversation I was having. Not to mention you didn't even introduce yourself to the pretty girl in the room, whom I know you have never met before, and you should consider your next words wisely."

Malfoy seemed to take a vicious grin as he looked over to the blushing girl, "Interesting, Half-blood by chance?"

The girl shook her head with a smile, "No Muggleborn, I'm Hermione Granger, and you are?"

The girl offered her hand to the pureblood who just snided coldly turning his nose up at her, "Sorry I don't shake hands with fil-"

Before he could even finish that sentence Neville and Harry had their wands pointing at the boy, Harry speaking first, "You have called me a squib for years Malfoy, care to learn just how much I know? Finish that sentence and you will know really quick."

Neville and Harry both fired a disarming hex at the two goons at door, and threatened to stun them before they had even moved, while Draco grinned, "So not so squbish are you Potter?"

Growling Harry responded, "Get out. I don't care what words you have to say, and if I hear you insult my mother again it may be the last thing that tongue of yours ever says."

Draco paled a little at the threat standing up quickly, "We could've ruled the first years together Potter, but now you will see what its like to be on the other side of a Malfoy!"

Ron finally gaining his wits responded, "We don't want to know what the losing side of anything is Malfoy!"

For the first time Harry felt like hi fiving the youngest Weasley male, but refrained and settled with a glare towards the blonde ponce as he quickly walked out of the room. Harry and Neville then through the wands they had disarmed into the hall and shut door. Harry then placed a small ward on the door, which would force people to knock.

Hermione and Rons' jaws were both on the floor with the bushy haired girl protesting first, "Where did you two learn such advanced magic? That looks like a ward you just put up, and that is third year magic, sometimes older. The disarming hex is second year, but you both did it so easily!"

Harry shrugged while Neville sighed, "Magical combat is our specialty, we were taught him to duel at a young age. Don't worry most people won't know very much, maybe specific curses, but as far as things go, you will be on the same level as everyone."

Hermione seemed to look little better after that while Ron muttered, "Wicked!"

After only a little longer the kids changed into their robes, and prepared to exit the train. When the train came to a complete stop, the station in Hogsmeade filled with students. Harry at first wasn't sure what to do, but then heard the giant of a man coming down the platform trying to guide first years to the boats. Harry approached the large man as he marched towards the dock, "Hello Hagrid, have a pleasant Summer?"

Hagrid boomed with laughter, "'Arry! 'ogwarts is just beautiful in the Summer, and without all you kids around though it can get a little lonely. None the less its always a memorable ride through the Black Lake now that your all back!"

Few words were exchanged between the two, and they agreed that after the first week was over they would meet for tea, and some of his famous rock cakes. With Hagrid commanding the frightened first years, the boats were quickly loaded, as Hermione, Ron, and Neville, all shared a boat, and it didn't take long for it to lurch forward.

The boat ride lasted for a few minutes, but suddenly a magnificent site appeared before the eager first year students. Harry had seen the castle before, in passing, but never had he seen it from this angle. It was almost like something out of a fantasy, as the castle was monstrous, and clearly the largest building he had ever seen. The grounds were also beautiful as they could stretch for far as the eye could see in the lake. The forest on both sides of the grounds was the only ominous thing about the boat ride, as many people knew just what lurked in those woods. For most though it was simply hard to take their eyes off the castle.

As the boats went under the castle the group all looked around at the small cavern that led to a dock that was directly inside the castle. Everyone boarded out in a fairly ordered fashion and followed the Keeper of Keys up to the main entrance hall where they stopped before two very majestic doors, where a familiar regal women was holding a firm stare upon her future students, "Good evening. Welcome to Hogwarts. In a few moments you will be joining your classmates, but first you must be sorted into our houses. Your house will be like your family. Your triumphs will be rewarded with house points, and your failures will result in a deduction of points. At the end of each year there will be a feast, and then a brief ceremony awarding the house cup to the house with the most points. The houses are, Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff, and Salazaar Slytherin. Now I must see that the headmaster is ready for the first years, I will be just a moment, thank you Hagrid."

Hagrid merely saluted and followed the professor into the hall while the students went into silence. Harry however looked to his left realizing he didn't recognize the young boy standing next to him, he introduced himself, "Hello, I'm Harry."

Offering his hand to the boy the kid looked excited at the prospect of speaking to someone, "Oh, I'm Justin, Justin Finch-Fletchley. Its a pleasure. Are you a muggle born as well?"

A snort came from in the group, "Just how much filth can you associate with in a day Potter? Its almost like your a magnet! I am surprised you have not caught some wretched disease."

Justin who didn't realize he had just been insulted just looked at the blonde boy who was striding forward, while Harry retorted, "Well I now will have to be speaking with you on a regular basis, so I have a feeling my tolerance for filth will just have to increase if I decide to refrain from blasting you out of my way everyday."

Some of the group gasped, while Harry and Draco now stood inches from each other, "Why don't you watch yourself Potter? You put on this tough act, but everyone here sees you for who you are?"

Neville sarcastically stated, "Your right Draco, they all see him exactly for who he is. Have you forgotten who that is? By nothing but title he is the boy who lived, and he doesn't even need to raise his wand to stop your boot licking fathers master."

Draco growled, while some of the Purebloods seemed to take a step back at the clearly escalating situation, "Listen up you lot. In our world there are some witches and wizards that are just better than others, now you can either except that, and I can help guide you, or you can follow Potter and just be another filthy blood traitor to a noble line of wizards."

A young red headed girl who Harry recognized as Susan Bones stepped bravely forward, "Its easy for you to stand on your fathers shoulders Malfoy. At least Harry has had his own accomplishments without the need of his family name."

For a moment Harry almost said that wasn't entirely true, but he knew he couldn't say such things, so flashed the pretty girl a smile of thanks, while Neville spoke, "Don't forget who holds the real power Malfoy. The Longbottoms and the Potters were Lording the lands while your family was still trying to figure out how to get the sheep skin to sell for a reasonable price."

Before anything else could be said a loud bang went off and a ghost was laughing as a bucket of water dropped down soaking most of the first years from head to toe. Said ghost was laughing his life away, as the first years panicked. Neville however sighed casting the drying charm on himself and spitting out a piece of gum, then firing a spell at it, "Wadi Wasi!"

The piece of gum quickly flew through the air hitting the poltergeist that Harry recognized from stories as Peeves right in the face. The ghost shouted in frustration and flew through the wall. With the tension having dissipated from the prank, the the boys took a few moments to start casting drying charms on the first years who had gotten wet. When Harry approached Susan she thanked him as he put a warming and drying charm on her, "Thank you Harry. Always the gentlemen aren't you?"

Harry gave a mock bow, "I live to serve my lady, and if anyone should be expressing their thanks it should be me. Any chance to take down Malfoy a peg or two is a fantastic opportunity. Thank you for taking advantage of it."

Harry winked at the girl and made his way back to Neville who smirking. Harry didn't need to look at the boy, but stared at Mccgonagal as she approached the group. Grimacing Harry without looking at his best friend simply said, "Shut up."

This caused the boy to break into a chuckle as the head of Gyrffindor motioned for them to follow her into the hall. The Potter, Longbottom duo followed their soon to be head of house through the doors as the first, first years to cross into the great hall. The two boys walked with their heads high as they approached the tables and walked past them towards the sorting hat. They didn't say a word, but walked in step with one another, until they had approached the hat.

Once all the first years had gathered at the front of the hall, the head of Gryffindor stood tall next to the ancient artifact, "When I call your name please step forward."

A few moments passed, then she called out, "Hannah Abbot!"

The familiar pretty blonde pig tailed girl walked nervously to the front, most likely cursing her name for starting with an A. Luckily for her the hat was only on her for a second before it called out, "HUFFLEPUFF!"

Susan Bones was called next and quickly followed her friend into the house of badgers. Hermione Granger was called up after several, and the hat took its time sorting her, "Ah this is interesting. A thirst for knowledge that would make Rowena proud, but also bravery, and a need for friendship. I do believe you would be best in...Ravenclaw!"

The crowd clapped politely as they had for every student so far, and Harry knew the hat had made the right decision and he had only spoken with the girl for a few hours. Neville was called shortly after, and that hat spoke with sincere sadness, "Ah, a student affected by the war. I see desire, a desire for revenge that could give you the ambition to be in the house of snakes, however I fear you would never achieve your greatness in the vipers nest. I sense a great intelligence in you Mr. Longbottom, and I dare say we will be seeing great things from you, just like your father before you. Go join your families name in GRYFFINDOR!"

The Longbottom family was rather famous for being in Gryffindor so the table of lion erupted in applause and cheers as the young man confidently strode with a smile towards his new housemates. Draco was of course sorted into Slytherin without much of a hesitation on the hat, and finally Harry was called. This was the first time he had taken a chance look at his mother who was beaming down at him. He gave the beautiful red head a smile, and took his seat on the stool, while the deputy headmistress put the hat on his head, "Now this a sorting I have looked forward to Mr. Potter. Like your father and ancestors before you there is courage, and chivalry much like Godric himself. From your mother I see that she passed on a brain that would make Rowena smile, and be glad to take you. I also notice a rather cunning set of traits in you, always trying to take the upper hand, but not always for yourself, but for your friends and family. You also have ambition, oh do you have ambitions, I feel the desire to prove yourself, to live up to your name and save us all again. Interesting. Now here is something that makes this even more difficult. I see your life Mr. Potter, I see how you work, I see how you defend your friends and family when under fire. This is difficult. I am sure I know the answer, but do you have a preference Mr. Potter, I do believe any house will benefit from your residence."

Harry spoke strongly to the hat, "Put me where I will reach my best potential. Despite any fall outs, I want to be where I will prosper the most. If you have seen my ambitions and what I am willing to do to get there, then you realize the difficult path that has been paved. Help me smooth it out."

The hat laughed, "A charming young man once said the same to me, and now he basically rules the world. However unlike this man, you will be taking the path of the hardworking, and the path where loyalty is everything. Your new home for the next seven years will belong with...HUFFLEPUFF!"

The hall descended into silence. They had listen to what the hat had said, they had heard his declarations, and they heard the young man's responses. Most were shocked, to shocked to clap. Harry chanced a look at his mom who had a sad smile on her face, and his best friend who looked stunned. As the boy stood up however there was an ovation of applause from the Hufflepuff house, and the rest of the school quickly followed.

Before Harry could walk over to join his housemates however he treaded over to his best friend. The whole school seemed to be watching him, and the head table made no moves to stop him. At first the two just stared at each other then Neville sighed, "Looks like the forces are divided mate."

Harry shook his head, "Only by house. This changes nothing. Perhaps you can join me at breakfast tomorrow and we will figure things out."

Neville nodded clearly not going to say much in front of so many people. However before Harry could turn away he cleared his throat looking at his best friend expectedly. Neville groaned pulling out a gold coin flipping it to his best friend, "I was hoping you had forgot!"

Harry grinned, "I never forget Mr. Longbottom, a pleasure doing business with you!"

In a stunned moment of silence Harry strode over towards his housemates with the gall to blush a little with so many stares. The moment of silence was broken by laughter from the Gryffindor table where Harry assumed Neville had explained their bet. The bet was that Harry would not interfere with the hats sorting him, and that it would put him somewhere other than Gryffindor. Neville however thought that was ridiculous considering he was a descendant of Godric himself, however Harry was proven right once again. While this was still unexpected, they weren't unprepared for something like this to happen.

Harry made his way to where a familiar seventh year was sitting and took a hard seat next to her. She quickly put an arm around him, "Wotcher Harry! We are going to have so much fun together this year. This was certainly a pleasant surprise."

His cousin Tonks greeted him as warmly as she could, but Harry could tell she to was more than just surprised by the hats choice. Everyone expected Harry to follow his father into Gryffindor, but it appeared destiny had other agendas.

The sorting finished quickly after him, with there being only one more Hufflepuff added to the group. The Headmaster stood up at the end of the sorting speaking clearly, "A few reminders before we begin our feast. First years, the forbidden forest is as title strictly titled off limits to all students. Also there is a extensive list of band products that you may see in front of our caretaker Mr. Fliches office if we have anyone who wished to avoid detentions. Also the third floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds, for those who do not wish to die a most painful death."

Harry flinched at those words, as he realized that the protections for the stone were probably immense, and probably deadly to those who attempted to penetrate its defenses. Harry had never asked the headmaster what was being done, because he trusted the old man completely that it would be taken care of, a thought that was reassured by this announcement. However the rest of the school took that as a chance to murmur amongst themselves causing a little bit of a rumble. However Dumbledore just smiled flicking his hands, "Let the feast begin!"

The notice me not charm on all the food was suddenly lifted and the feast had truly indeed begun. Harry had remained quiet throughout most of it, but when Susan engaged him in conversation, he quickly picked up, "So are you disappointed to be a badger Harry?"

Most of the people nearby had gone quiet at Susan's question, but Harry gave the girl a smile, "A chance to get to know a pretty girl like you Ms. Bones is never something to be disappointed about. However I will admit I am surprised. I trust the hats judgment though. If he believes I belong here then I believe it. I will do my best to make sure everything I do counts, and will help watch out for my fellow housemates."

An older boy nearby clapped his hand on the table loudly twice, "Here Here Harry! Spoken like a true Hufflepuff!"

Harry recognized the boy as Cedric Diggory and gave him a smile while the feast continued to rage on. The oldest Potter scion was quiet throughout dinner, only engaging in conversation when people spoke directly to him, and his silence was noticed by almost every badger at some point. At the end of the feast Dumbledore dismissed them goodnight, but Harry made eye contact with the headmaster and the old man gave him an encouraging smile and even raised his glass to him a bit. This gave Harry the necessary strength to follow his new classmates across the hall to their common rooms. Tonks lead the way taking over for some fifth year that Harry did not recognize. She explained to them that Hufflepuff was the best, because we were literally in middle of the castle. The great hall was the closest, and we would be closer to almost every class with the advantage of being on the ground floor. Harry however saw it as a tactical disadvantage seeing that if something were to happen, they would be the first to die if the school were to be attacked.

When they arrived at the entrance to the common room there were a set of barrels that Harry had looked at carefully. It was clearly some type of trap that was setup. A group of twenty barrels and if you picked the wrong one something would happen to you. Knowing this was a school he knew it wouldn't be that bad, but he had a feeling it would be humiliating. Tonks carefully showed them which barrel to push, and when she did the rest went tumbling out of the way, clearing an entrance into the common room. In the common room it looked much like the pictures he had seen of Gryffindors. It was decorated in yellow and black colors all the way around the room, with a cozy fire and several couches around the room. There were tables for studying, and a small library that stood in the back of the room. The view outside the common room was the Hogwarts grounds, that was clear the meadow that took people down towards Hagrid's cottage. Harry actually like the view, but once again realized if the school was attacked, they would be the first to know.

Tonks announced, "Listen up you lot. We don't have many powerfully enforced rules in this house, obviously we are the house of the hard workers and the house of loyalty, that being said I expect everyone to be doing their own work, and that there will be no cheating within this house. Also if you have a problem with a housemate you solve it between yourselves, and don't drag the rest of us down into a civil war. I will curse the lot of you if I have to take sides on any conflict that doesn't have a right answer. Now girls common rooms are on the left, boys yours are on the right. The rooms are plenty spacious so go and pick your beds, and get settled for the night. Professor Sprout who is our head of house will probably be trying to talk to you over the next few days so keep your eyes open! Classes start tomorrow, good luck, and if you need anything just come check it up with me, or the other Hufflepuff prefects, we are here to help!"

Tonks gave a final show with a deep bow, and a wink towards Harry as she marched towards the girls dormitory. Harry sighed, but held a smile on his face as he followed Justin Fletchley, towards their new room. Letting the boys pick their bad Harry took the last one remaining as his four roommates had filled the other beds. Harry had known Zacharias Smith for many years and knew the boy was nothing but a tosser, and didn't even look acknowledge him. He hoped the boy had a magical aptitude half as strong as his attitude, but the green eyed Potter wasn't holding his breath. Ernie Macmillan was someone Harry had also been acquainted with a few times over the years. The boy was a Hufflepuff in the heart no doubt, as when Malfoy had insulted Harry in front of him the boy decked him in the face. However he was a little naive, but Harry figured under his guidance/wing the boy would flourish into a wizard his family could be proud of. Then he turned to one of magicals societies newer citizens. Justin Fletchley seemed to be in awe over Harry now that someone had told him what had happened between the Dark Lord and himself all those years ago, and Harry hoped that the awe would only be short lived. Wayne Hopkins was the last boy in the room, and Harry had not yet even properly introduced himself to the boy, and reminded himself to fix that the following day.

The girls across the hall were a little more optimistic in the green eyed boys opinion. Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot, had always gotten on really well with Harry, and he hoped that the three would form a solid friendship that would keep him sane, while Neville would likely not be on the best of speaking terms with him. Megan Jones was also there, and Harry had met her through her mother who was in the order, Hestia Jones. He hadn't had much of a relationship with the girl, but figured that may be changing relatively soon.

Taking a deep breath Harry laid down on his bed, barely remembering to change into his pajamas. He knew his day would be starting early tomorrow, and closed his eyes to drift into a light slumber.

****(A/N) The reviews are good so far! Pretty low in number, but I hope it grows! Please tell me what your thinking, in a review, and I hope you enjoyed! See you next Sunday, and cheers!****


	4. How a Legacy Begins

****Chapter 4****

Harry was awoken with a jolt in his bed that was charmed to wake him up at 5:00AM. Out of habit he wiped the sleep out of his eyes and crawled out of bed. Quickly making his way to his trunk, he pulled out some work out clothes that Sirius had gotten him from a company he invested in overseas. They were a tight fit, but they made him feel stronger and faster than he probably was. After only a few minutes he was fully dressed and making his way down into the common room. With his wand in its holster on his wrist, he confidently strode into the empty room, that showed while his housemates were hard workers they were not supremely early risers.

Harry grinned as he exited the portrait, and slowly lazed himself towards the entrance hall. Easily walking on to the grounds Harry wondered if anyone shut the great hall doors...ever?

Putting that thought in the back of his mind, at the feel of fresh air he took off towards Hagrid's with the intention to make his way towards the quittditch pitch and back. He wasn't particularly running for distance this morning, but he was trying to make a map of the grounds in his head. Feeling brave with his wand at the ready he even ran along the edge of the forbidden forest to see if we would catch any of the unicorns that Hagrid was always talking about. However luck was not with him as all he saw was a centaur that was watching him from a distance. After some time he did manage to make it to the quittditch pitch, and the greenhouses. After running past both of those he began to feel a little winded and made a last mile sprint towards the Black Lake. When Harry made it to the sandy beach he plopped down in the sand in an effort to catch his breath.

After a few moments of laying on his back and staring out at the beautiful sun rise he pulled himself to his knees and closed his eyes. He felt his heartbeat and his very magic flowing through his body. This meditation technique is something that Severus Snape had taught him to control his Occulmency shields. The young boy took deep breaths and began to pulse his magic out just a little bit. He didn't need to open his eyes to know that nearby rocks would be floating in the air, and that the water was rushing to his feet a little harder than before. Harry's breathing was steady, and he felt powerful with his whole magical core at the ready. Professor Snape taught him that true power rested somewhere between rage and serenity, a place of balance, and trust in his magic. Taking the meditation to the next level he put his wand down in the sand and began holding his hands out to the side with his palms pointed towards the sands. He increased his breathing slightly and he felt a pull in his magic as he began floating off the ground just a little bit. Harry smiled at how attuned he was to the magic around him, and he had never felt more powerful since the very of magic of Hogwarts was surrounding him at this point.

After a moment of further concentration he dropped to the ground with a deep breath and a smile. He then grabbed his wand and stood up flexing his shoulders a bit. Pointing his wand out towards the water he flicked his wrist, "Reducto, Stupefy, Deprimo, Expelliarmus, Incarcerous!"

Harry felt the chain of five spells he had been working on for some time come into place with a beautiful ease. The key to chain spells were that the precision of each attack had to be spot on, or the next curse would not come out right, in turn destroying the effectiveness of the chain. Harry grinned as he watched the spells hit the water and explode. With finesse he did this chain spell a few more times each greeting him with success. He then changed into some more powerful hexes he was taught, "Defodio, Expulso, Diffindo!"

A quick three chain that he was told to only use in emergencies left his wand with a sharp power behind each one. Smiling Harry put his wand away after practicing those spells a few more times, then closed his eyes and meditated for a bit longer. As the sun beat down on him a little higher in the sky, he knew it was reaching seven fifteen and that he was supposed to be in the great hall by eight, so with a final sprint of approximately a mile he made his way back to the castle, with still no site of anyone. However once he crossed into entrance hall he could see that a select few students were already up drinking some type of tea or coffee and looking at the morning paper. He could also see Dumbledore sitting at the high table alone. Harry didn't bother to go into the great hall, but he did wave good morning to the headmaster, in which he got a small nod in return, and made his way towards the common rooms.

When he reached the entrance a good majority of the house was awake. When he crossed through the house line most people stared at him in confusion as he was currently drenched in sweat, and with what some would consider little clothes. His T-shirt was basically just covering his body and had no sleeves which allowed the tone in his arms to be shown off a bit. His shorts were a bit looser, but they were still only down to his knees which showed the strength of his calves. He noticed none of his roommates were downstairs yet, but he did see Tonks shaking her head at him with a smile.

With a calm walk towards his common room he heard the whispers behind him. Taking it all in stride however he came into his room to see Justin and Ernie looking into his bed, probably just now realizing he was gone, "If your looking for me boys your a couple hours behind."

Ernie and Justin both whirled around with clear signs of relief, Ernie said, "We thought you might have ran for it in the night!"

Harry chuckled grabbing his fresh robes out of his trunk, "Why would I do that? I like it here in Hufflepuff, and I haven't even met everyone yet. I think its a little early to be running out, wouldn't you say?"

Zacharias sniffed the air, "Good Lord Potter, is that stench you?"

The green eyed boy rolled his eyes, "Yes Smith, its called sweat, not that I expect you would've worked hard enough in your life to know what that is!"

The boy growled, "I sweat all the time playing Quittditch!"

Harry rose his eyes, "You can play Quittditch?"

Zacharias held his nose in the air like the pompous git he was, "Of course I can! I reckon I will be the starting seeker next year!"

Harry laughed, "Good luck with that! I just wonder how you are going usurp Cedric, he has been seeker since his second year, and he's pretty good! I have played with him before, and I am not sure I could take his spot. Not that I am going to. I will take a Chaser position until Cedric leaves, then I may tryout for Seeker. I hope you give me some good competition Smith!"

The pompous boy took that as a compliment, and had also indeed realized that Cedric was probably the superior seeker for now. Harry made his way over to the bathroom where he quickly washed off, and cleaned up a bit for his first day of class.

After only ten minutes he was joining his housemates down in the common room where the fifth year prefect, that he learned was Hannah Abbots older brother Darrel, called out, "Alright first years, follow me down to the great hall, I know its not very far, but its tradition that the prefects guide you on the first day."

Harry stood in the back of the first years with Ernie and Justin explaining where he was this morning, while Justin whistled, "My older brother, who is non magical he is a track star down in London. I am sure he would be impressed that you are getting up and running every morning. Why do you do it though?"

Harry shrugged, and noticed not for the first time that the first years were listening, "Running and swimming make my stamina stay up, and help me in dueling. Its also good to be in shape, because no matter how strong you are magically sometimes its better to run and live another day. That's what my godfather taught me."

Zacharias asked in shock, "You mean to tell me pureblood Sirius Black runs like a muggle every morning?"

Harry laughed, "I don't think Padfoot has been able to run the length he was able to as a kid, but I know when my dad and him were going through auror training as cadets they ran a lot to stay in shape. Its supposed to help you in lasting longer in dueling."

Darrel Abbot who was kind of listening in asked, "What do you know about dueling Potter?"

Harry knew that most of his skills were supposed to be kept quiet, but he figured talking about his experience wouldn't be so bad, as long as he didn't mention his teachers, "Only been doing it a lot in the past year, but my dad tells me Potters are all usually battle magic proteges. I don't know if I can claim to be that good, because all I have to compare myself to is the adults in my life, or my little brother, who is a fast little devil, but packs no real punch."

Darrel Abbot smiled, "Well I am captain of the Hufflepuff dueling team, maybe sometime this week we can find a empty classroom and test you out. I need some younger blood, because we lost a lot of power last year. Tonks is probably going to be the best dueler we have, but lets face it mate, shes clumsy and beats herself more than her opponents do!"

Harry laughed, "I have seen that before! She is my cousin on my godfathers side, so I watched her in a dueling league one summer. She's good, but she knocked herself out in the finals when she held her stupefy to long and stunned herself!"

Darrel erupted into laughter, "I think I will be asking for my dads pensieve so you can show me that one Potter!"

Harry smiled at the older boy and they had arrived in the great hall fifteen minutes early, because Darrel had told us, 'if your early your on time. If your on time your late.'

Harry took his seat at the Hufflepuff table which was in between the Ravenclaws and the Gryffindors respectively, and hoped that Neville would sit behind him so they could get a chance to speak. Professor Sprout greeted the first years enthusiastically, "Good morning 'Puffs! It is good to see my old students back, and my new students arrive! We will be holding a house meeting tonight, so please everyone be sure you are in the common room at sunset! I have your schedules here, and I look forward to seeing all of you tonight!"

With a flick of her wand the schedules went out to each of the students and Harry smiled at the ease in which his head of house displayed magic. Harry now regretted not getting to know Professor Sprout growing up. He had been closely affiliated with Snape, Mccongagal, and Flitwick, but had only even met the Professor once, at Bones Manor. Harry knew that Amelia Bones, was Susan's godmother, and that she often spent time with her aunt when she could. Being the head of the DMLE was a full time job for sure. Even with the fall of the Dark Lord.

Breakfast went by for a while until Neville had made his way into the great hall with the Gryffindor first years behind him. Percy Weasley and Neville were speaking professionally and Harry had to refrain from rolling his eyes.

Neville made eye contact with Harry, and the Potter motioned his eyes to the seat behind him, and Neville quickly took it. Harry spun his chair, "Sleep well Neville? I half expected to see you out there running this morning?"

Neville shook his head, "Will start tomorrow, I wanted to have a little lie in, before we broke into our training regiment."

Harry gave the boy a smile, "Well I charted out the grounds so I can show you all the highlights tomorrow. Has Mccgonagal given you your schedule yet?"

****(A/N) Like in the movies all classes will be shared by the first years. It won't be divided into houses like in the books. I am doing this for the simple reason to give the boys a chance to stay together, and give them a chance to unite the houses over time. Sorry for the interruption.****

Neville nodded, "Looks like we have Transfiguration first. Then Potions, with Snape."

Harry thought about correcting him on his addressing of the resident potions master, but thought better of it when he realized it would just cause a fight on their already shaky grounds, "At least we won't have to deal with our problem until tomorrow!"

Neville looked at his schedule to see Defense Against the Dark Arts listed, and grimaced, "I will keep my eyes open on it. Lets eat breakfast and head up to the fifth floor together shall we?"

Harry nodded and quickly finished eating his food. When the two boys stood up he noticed Ron Weasley shoot over to the two boys, "Morning Harry, how was it with the Puffs last night?"

Harry glared at the boy for only a split second, "It was fine Ron. My roommates are cool, but it will definitely take some getting used to. I haven't ever had to sleep in a room with more than one person in it at any given times. Even when Rosalie used to come sleep with me, it was odd, but I guess now I'll be getting used to it!"

Ron accepted this heartily, "I know what you mean! Come on we should get going, if we are late Mccgonagal will likely turn us all into pocket watches!"

Harry nodded knowing that is exactly something Minerva would do, and turned to his roommates, "Were heading up to Transfiguration, you guys want to join us?"

Wayne, Ernie, and Justin were still eating, so they told him they would catch up, but the girls quickly stood to follow, having been done eating. As the group of six made their way out of the hall Harry started conversation with his housemates, "How'd you sleep last night ladies?"

Hannah who was as witty as ever shot back, "Better than you apparently. What is this I heard about you getting up at five in the morning to go running?"

Neville looked surprised, "You didn't tell your housemates you were leaving?"

Harry shrugged, "I wasn't really thinking about it last night, and I didn't want to wake anyone this morning."

"You know you shouldn't be out in the open like that Harry, especially without telling someone. You should've sent me a patronus I would've gotten up."

Susan Bones asked in shock, "You can cast a Patronus Harry?"

Harry glared at his best friend, "Yes, I had a bad run in with dementors at the Ministry last year. I was going to drop some stuff off to my dad at work, and I made a wrong turn into the auror holding cells, where they just so happened to have a dementor there. It was drawn to me because of my scar, and attempted to give me the kiss. Thankfully Master Auror Moody was there, or I would've been a goner. After that I focused everything I could on learning the patronus, its not very strong yet, but I can send messages, and create a mist to stop a few dementors. My Godfather thinks in a year or two I will be able to cast a corporeal, but he thinks I need happier memories for that to work."

The girls all looked impressed at that while Harry turned back to Neville, "It was only one morning Nev, you will be joining me tomorrow, and now everyone knows where I will be in the mornings, problem solved right?"

Neville stopped and stared at his best friend, and the others all seemed to notice the sharp rise in tension, however the boy just shook his head, "We will talk about it later. Just please be careful will ya. It will be different now that I can't watch your back everywhere."

Hannah Abbot gave Neville a smile, "We will watch out for your best friend Neville, he is our friend to!"

Harry knew better to comment, and that this concern went much deeper than the girls or Ron Weasley picked up on, but the boy knew this was not the place to bring that old flame up. After a few more minutes of lighter conversation, they made it to the transfiguration room, and were the first to arrive.

A cat that Harry recognized as Mcconagals animagus was sitting on the desk, but the others didn't seem to notice. Harry and Neville both did get strange looks when they bowed to the cat, but neither commented on it, saying that it was an inside joke. The cat looked a little amused, but made no gesture of acknowledgment.

Neville and Harry took the front row, while Susan and Hannah took the desk beside them. After they realized Ron, and Megan were going to be forced to sit together, Harry offered Ron his seat and back a row, to sit with the pretty Welsh girl. The next pair of people to come through was Daphne Greengrass and Tracy Davis. Greengrass who Harry was pretty close to came over, "Hows it feel to be Badger a Potter?"

"Why good morning to you to Daphne, don't you look lovely this morning!"

The girl blushed, but only for a second, "You put Malfoy through the runs when he found out you were sorted into Hufflepuff. I don't think we will ever hear the end of how all of the Wizarding Worlds most worthless wizards come from there."

Megan Jones was about to retort, but Harry was quick to defend his house, "Malfoy needs to be reminded that Abraxas Malfoy married a Hufflepuff, and that his grandmother that was killed during the war just twitched in her grave at such a horrific insult."

Daphne grinned, "I will pass the message along Potter. It seems the hat may have made the right choice."

Harry gave the girl a slick smile and a nod towards Tracey who he had only met on a few occasions, and turned to his housemate to receive a smile. After about fifteen minutes the rest of the class had poured in, and many were wondering where there professor was. When a bell rang throughout Hogwarts Mcconagal lept through the air and transformed into her usual self, "Good morning class. Welcome to the first day of transfiguration."

The class clapped politely for the stern witches trick. She then began her speech, "Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she said. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."

With that she began a short lecture on turning a match in a needle. The instructions were to be concise and focus on the incantation. Harry who had been working on wandless magic recently turned his first one into an inaccurate needle with pieces of wood sticking out of it, but then pulled out his wand and made them into perfectly shaped needles. His partner next to him gasped, "That was wicked Harry, you did the first one without a wand!"

Some of the class had heard her exclamation, and turned to look while Neville focused really hard in front of him and was also able to do the same, "He's not the only one!"

Mcconagal had a smile for a split second before returning to her usual posture, "Five points of Hufflepuff and Gryffindor! Now Mr. Potter, Mr. Longbottom, do you mind explaining to the class how you did it?"

Neville motioned to his best friend, "Your the better teacher!"

Harry nodded speaking carefully, "The goal of any transfiguration is to picture your intended goal, and focus your magic on exactly what you want. You have to be able to see exactly what you want to do. I am willing to bet that the people who would've gotten it the fastest would have been people who knew the spell movement really well, or those who had been around pins and needles the most. Magic cannot be commanded, but only controlled. You have to be precise in what you want."

The head of Gryffindor nodded, "Very good Mr. Potter, five more points to Hufflepuff. Now who knows why I did not teach you this myself?"

Daphne Greengrass raised her hand to be called on, "Because you wanted it to be a learning experience professor?"

Mcconagal nodded, "Very good five points to Slytherin. Now everyone close your eyes and picture your transfiguration. Then be tight with your circle and cast the spell. For some of you this may be your first real attempt at magic, so do not be discouraged. Mr. Potter, Mr. Longbottom please go around and try and help if you can."

Harry nodded first turning to his housemate, "Lets see it Megan, remember what she said, the accuracy of the wand motion is important for someone who had never done this before. Focus on it."

After two short attempts Megan had gotten the imperfect Transfiguration and squealed with excitement at being in the first few to get it done. Harry smile at the girl and stood up going to his other housemates making sure they had it.

The class went by from there, with everyone getting at least an imperfect transfiguration, and a few like Daphne getting one perfect.

When the bell rang the first years pulled themselves up, while Harry and Neville were asked to stay behind. Mcconagal looked at two of her students with pride, "I am awarding each of you with ten more points to your respective houses. I am slightly disappointed Mr. Potter that Hufflepuff is going to be making a lot of points off of you. Hopefully Mr. Longbottom will be able to counter you a little, and I hope it sparks friendly competition between the two of you. Now, I would like to tell you both that since this is going to be to easy for the two of you, I would like you to complete all of your assignments wandlessly. I know your parents have instructed you two for a while now, and Dumbledore tells me you are both trying to become proficient wandless casters. I will not take points off, but will award extra points for every assignment you can complete without a wand, does that seem fair?"

Harry and Neville grinned at each other, while the head of Gryffindor dismissed them. The two boys quickly ran to catch up with their friends as they were now headed to the dungeons. Hermione Granger who was waiting to speak with the boys along with her friend who Harry didn't recognize exclaimed, "You two are going to make taking the top spot this year in grades rather difficult aren't you?"

Her tone was accusatory, but Harry laughed, "I wouldn't worry about it Hermione. I am an idiot in Herbology, while Neville makes everything he touches in potions explode. Not to mention Astronomy makes me cry myself to tears. Transfiguration, DADA, and Charms, should be the only classes we excel in. Well, and potions for me, but my mom is the potions master so that's not really fair."

Hermione seemed to take this news with joy knowing she would only have to beat both boys in their weak subjects and she would have a chance. Neville and Harry didn't have the heart to mention Mcconagals extra credited so they made their way into the dungeons classroom and took their seats beside each other this time, on the second row. The Slytherin house had invaded the first row quickly in order to gain favor with their head of house. After a few moments banging sounds entered the classroom and Snape was moving down the entrance way closing all the windows and making the classroom appear a little dark.

Snape kept an impassive face that hadn't wavered for as long as Harry had known the man. Snape then stood in front of the class with his arms cross behind his back, he looked like a young soldier prepared for instruction, "You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making. As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even put a stopper to death – if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

Snape then cast a gleaming evil smile upon the class, "Weasley, Tell me what will I get if I add powered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Harry grinned, that was an easy one, but by the looks of Ron's cheeks he had no idea, Hermione however was excited about knowing the answer she shot her hand into the air. Ron however responded, "I don't know, aren't you supposed to be teaching me these things?"

Neville and Harrry both stared at the red headed idiot with wide eyes, didn't his brothers warn him of Professor Snapes wrath? Snape's glare deepened, "Interesting response Weasley, perhaps we should try again, Where would you look if I asked you to find me a bezoar?"

Ron shook his head, "Once again I don't know how you expect me to know that?"

Hermione however was no raising her hand in the air, Harry gently whispered over to her, "He won't call on you if you are waving your hand in the air, he hates when people raise their hand, he calls on people at random."

Hermione spat quietly back, "And how would you know that?"

Harry said quietly, "That's my mums best friend. Trust me."

Snape then called out, "Mr. Potter. It seems you have taken a particular interest in talking in my class. Perhaps you would like to answer my questions."

Harry sighed, "Forgive me professor. Your first question was the powered root of asphodel infusion of wormwood, and that would create a sleeping potion so powerful it would create the draught of living death, while the best place would be to find the bezoar in the stomach of a goat. Unless you had a very skilled potion master to create one out of dragon heartstring."

Snape nodded, "If you get this last question Mr. Potter than I do believe I will forgive your ignorance this once."

Harry nodded preparing himself, "What is the difference between Monkswood and Wolfsbane?"

Thinking back to his mum's lessons he replied hastily, "The answer would simply be they are the exact same thing. Monkshood of course came around first, but then Wolfsbane was more like a remastered version that came many years later. I believe Thomas Belby created it sir."

Snape gave a slight smile, "It seems not all of your fathers idiotic cells went into your head. You can thank your mother at dinner that I will not be taken points or issuing any detentions."

Harry gave a slight bow, "Thank you Professor, I will watch my tongue next time."

Some people watched Harry in shock, but Harry knew that if someone like him wanted to survive Professor Snapes class the best thing to do would be to kiss ass as much as possible, but not overly so, where he hates you.

Snape then waved his wand at that board allowing several instructions to appear, "Follow these instructions to the exact point and you will come up with a simple healing draft. You have one hour, upon completion like everyday you will be free to exit the classroom. You must however complete the potion in its entirety and clean your station. House points will be lost to anyone who does not follow those instructions. You may also do your homework in this classroom using me as an available resource to answer any questions, only during class time that you may or may not have available. Other wise your homework will be due at the beginning of the next class period, except for your essays they will be assigned Monday and due that Friday, you will not have an Essay this week, but expect one every week after this. You may begin."

Harry turned to Neville with a sigh, "You get me a passing grade in Herbology I will make sure you survive potions?"

Neville grinned, "Just stick to the plan right?"

Harry smiled at his best friend, "Go get the exact ingredients that are on the board, if we are short or too much of anything our batch will be rendered obsolete."

Neville shook his head quickly and went off towards the cabinet. He then whispered over to Hermione, "If I say get down you better do it. Every potion Neville has ever touched has turned volatile."

Hermione's eyes widened and nodded, while Neville returned with a little more than necessary. Harry sighed cutting off the extra ingredients and making sure everything was precise, "Take the boomslang skin and lets get started."

The potion took a little under an hour, and when they finished Neville began cleaning up while Harry marched over to the potions master, "Professor, Neville and I have completed our potion for the day. Will there be a homework assignment?"

Snape's dark black eyes met his for a moment, but the boy had his Occulmency shields prepared, which made Snape smirk, "Very good Mr. Potter, no home work on the first day, headmasters orders. I expect to be hearing from you on your progress on that project by the way."

Harry bowed again, "Of course Professor."

The oldest Potter scion was glad that his father wasn't here to see him act this way towards his old school rival, but he knew how to be a survivor. Neville cast a quick scourgify on the cauldron after putting all the extra ingredients away, and the to almost made it out of the class before Snape called out, "Ten points to Hufflepuff for being prepared, and knowing how to respect your professors. Twenty points from Gryffindor for being rude and unprepared."

Neville gaped at the man, and Ron Weasley turned scarlet red, but Harry clamped an arm down on Neville, convincing the boy to walk out while they still could. When they made it to the hallway Neville asked, "What was up with all that? I have never known you to be a kiss ass?"

Harry sighed, "He doesn't like me in private, and I have nearly killed myself trying to prove myself to him. What do you think his reaction to me in public would have been if I had tried a casual approach. You got to know which battles to fight mate."

Neville acknowledged that and the two made their way to great hall for lunch. The two decided to send a message and let Neville sit with him for Lunch, then they would sit at Gryffindor for dinner. No one questioned Neville at Lunch about anything, so when the two boys finished eating they made their way towards their charms class which would finish out the day.

The best friends had also decided that they needed to sit apart during this class in order to get to know some of the other students. The charms class was three to a table, so Harry took his seat with Susan, and Hannah, giving them both bright smiles as he took his seat. Hannah spoke quietly to Harry, "Your working up a name for yourself on the first day Harry! Thirty points, and even Snape gave you points! That is like unheard of in Hufflepuff."

Harry gave the girl a wink, "You just have to know how everyone ticks."

In a fake epic display he flaunted his hand twice causing two roses to appear in his hand and gave a fake bow, "My ladies."

Hannah fake swooned into Susan's arms, "Suzie he just has me petrified with his charms. Call the Doctor!"

This sent the trio into laughter, while professor Flitwick began the lesson. It was a pretty steadfast lesson with mostly just lectures to show for it. Two hours later the charms mater dismissed the students with no real magic having been done. Except for demonstrations of course, which wowed the students. At the end of class Harry approached his mentor with a smile, "Master Flitwick. I was wondering when you and I might have our next match?"

Flitwick laughed a bit, "Ah Harry, now that I know you are likely going to be on the dueling team I am not sure I can continue coaching you knowing that you will going up against my eagles. Once the Summer comes back around I promise I will show you some more tricks, but in the spirit of fairness I will have to turn you down my boy!"

Harry gave a sad smile to his professor, "I understand professor. I will see you at dinner!"

With a slight bow of respect to the half goblin Harry rushed out of the room in order to catch up his friends. The group went to the common room first in order to meet with Professor Sprout, and said their goodbyes to the other houses students.

The entire house had gathered for the meeting, hence why Sprout called it a house meeting, but Harry was surprised to see so many in the common room at once. After only five minutes of socializing Professor Sprout came in with her herbology clothes still on, but with a huge smile on her face, "Good evening Puffs! For those of you who don't know me yet, I am Professor Pomona Sprout, and I will be your head of house during your stay at Hogwarts. I strongly encourage each of you if there is a serious problem that needs to be taken care of, please come to me, as I am always available for one of my own no matter what time of day it is. Now I recognize some of you, but first years I would like you to introduce yourselves to me, and give me a little bit about yourself. Ms. Bones would you mind starting us off?"

Susan blushed, but nodded standing up from the staircase she was sitting on, "Hello everyone, my name is Susan Bones, and I am only one of the two of the remaining members of the Ancient Noble House of Bones. I live with my Aunt Amelia who some of you may know as the head of DMLE, and I really like to watch dueling matches?"

Professor Sprout clapped, "A fine addition to Hufflepuff you will make Ms. Bones, just like your aunt and mother before you!"

The girl blushed and Hannah stood up, "My name is Hannah Abbot, of the Noble house of Abbot, and I am the sister of course to our prefect Darrel Abbot, but other than that I am obsessed with Quittditch, and I hope to try out for the team next year."

The pretty blonde sat down with a satisfied smile on her face, while the last of the girls stood up, "I guess all the bravery in this house goes to the first year girls." The rest of the puffs laughed at that while the boys all turned a little red at her shot, "My name is Megan Jones, and I have spent my whole life in the magical world, though my mom is witch and my dad was a muggleborn. I live with my mum Hestia Jones, and I was thankful to be sorted here because I have known, Hannah, Susan, and Harry most of my life, so it was nice to be among friends even on my first day!"

Harry clapped respectively for the Welsh girl, and the blonde tosser stood up next, "I am Zacharias Smith, from the Ancient and Noble house of Smith. I am an only child which makes me the heir to my family, and I to am a bit Quittditch crazed, and only recently realized this morning that it will probably be fifth year before I make the team, because my designated position is seeker!"

Cedric called out, "Tough luck mate!"

The house all laughed at this and even Professor Sprout laughed while Zach continued, "Most of my family is in Slytherin, but my mom was a Hufflepuff, and apparently I take after her a lot so here I am!"

Professor Sprout smiled, "And were glad to have you Mr. Smith!"

Wayne Hopkins stood up next, "Well I am a muggleborn, so half the things mentioned tonight I have no idea what your talking about!" Some of the guys laughed while the girls shot him a sympathetic look, "However when I heard this was the house of the hardworking I knew this was where I was going. I have had to work hard most of my life, and I was beyond relieved to find out that I was a wizard, because I was having some really weird things happen to me." His face darkened a bit at that, but continued, "I am pretty friendly to those who are friendly back, so I hope to make friends quickly, and make my time at Hogwarts enjoyable!"

The house clapped again, while Justin stood, "Well Wayne and I are pretty much in the same boat, so I won't say much other than I am to a muggleborn. Back in the muggle world I loved to play Football, so I hope I can teach some of you guys, and maybe we can have some pick up games during the school year!"

Harry grinned at the boy as he took his seat quickly, clearly being a little shy, that just left Harry and Ernie who was standing up to address the crowd, "Well I am Ernie Macmillan, and I am the heir to the Noble house of Macmillan, but I don't really care about all of that since I have no interest in politics. I do however like Susan love to watch the international dueling league, and hope I can get some training and maybe compete on our dueling team here!"

Ernie gave the group a smile and Darrel called in, "We have tryouts this Saturday, but if you want some pointers come ask me during the week and I'd be glad to give you some advice before tryouts."

Harry recognized the loyalty of the group and couldn't refrain from smiling. Professor Sprout looked to Harry, "Now Mr. Potter, our surprise this year in Hufflepuff house. I must say I was shocked when you ended up here, but I am glad to have you!"

Tonks called out, "I think were all glad to have him professor, thirty points on his first day!"

Professor Sprout gave the boy an approving smile, "Your mum has the record in Hogwarts, she scored three hundred and forty points her first year. If you manage to beat that I think we will bringing home the house cup!"

Ernie who was nearby Harry elbowed him, "No pressure or anything!"

This caused some good natured laughing and Professor Sprout spoke, "So Mr. Potter please tell us about yourself."

Harry thought for a moment before speaking, "Well I guess I should first address something about my title, which I have grown to hate. In the Wizarding world I am known as the boy who lived, but I would honestly just like to say I don't care about all that. I was to young to remember the so called accomplishment, and if anyone judges me I would like it be on my own merits, not by something that I had no control over. Lets see, I will say I love magic. I love everything about it and every aspect in it. I have spent most of my life trying to control it, because I had my first accidental blast of magic at two. And I do mean blast, I blew up my cake in Sirius Black's face. He was most put out with me, but I think it allowed my dad to have a permanent memory in his pensieve." This caused a lot of people to laugh, but some to whisper about how rare accidental magic had come at such a young age, "My dad tells me I am a protege in Battle magic because of my Potter blood, so I have been under dueling tutoring since I was seven. Same with quittditch, I have been playing most of my life, and I hope to tryout for the team next year. My dad was a really good seeker, but I think since I just want to play I will probably go out for Keeper or Chaser. I can play just about every position thanks to my dads obsession. I guess the last thing I need to say about myself is that I am exceptionally hard working, and driven by a need to prove myself as the hat said last night. I have a long family history of success and I have big shoes to fill. I don't want to stand on anyone's shoulders, but build up my own reputation off my merits, not my families."

Professor Sprout smiled at her newest badger, "Well Mr. Potter, I will do everything to help you reach those goals, and that goes for all of you. Mr. Potter is right, if you want to be someone it should be off your own accomplishments. Professor Dumbledore is a fine example of that, and in times of distress we can always look to our headmaster and our other leaders to lead. Now, everyone should be finished introducing themselves, so please let us as a unit make our way to dinner, and enjoy the rest of our evening."

The Hufflepuff house made its way to dinner, and Harry was busy talking to several older students about his abilities in quittditch and dueling, and they said they would like to see him perform in both, soon and Harry readily agreed to it!

The youngest Potter made his way to the Gryffindor table to sit with his best friend, but his mother sent a paper airplane at him at dinner, and Harry grabbed it without looking up at her, reading the note, "__Your father is here, meet us in my quarters on the fourth floor. Come alone. -Mum."__

Harry didn't even acknowledge her, but received the message. He quickly wondered why his dad was here, and dreaded a possible confrontation, but as dinner died down he acted as if nothing was wrong.

****(A/N) This will likely be one of the longest chapters in the book, and I hope everyone enjoyed it. It looks like I will be writing a Susan/Hannah story, but I am not really sure how I am going to wing it yet. I don't want to delve into the whole family restoration thing, because that is to overdone. So I will think on it, but it probably won't even be executed until the end of second year so stay tuned for more in the Badgers Champion!****


	5. Family Squabbles

****Chapter 5****

Harry knocked suddenly on his mothers living quarters meeting her after dinner just as requested. The green eyed boy was a little nervous, but he wasn't afraid, just anxious.

It only took a moment for his mother to answer the door, which she did with a hug, "Oh Harry! How was your first day of Hogwarts?"

Harry smiled into his mum's hug, "It was good mum. A little boring at times, but it was fun. Mcconagal is having us doing everything wandlessly in her class for now, but it gives Neville and I bit of a challenge. How was your first day of teaching?"

Lily Potter laughed, "Oh it was actually quite funny. I had to fill in for Professor Burbage for a bit as she was not feeling well, and It is hilarious just how clueless some of these purebloods are. You know Amos' boy from your house, Cedric, he couldn't comprehend just the use of a muggle battery. The runes I powered allow my gadgets to work for a short time before they short out, but I think I have generally blown the minds of those who have never seen muggle technology."

Harry loved hearing his mum laugh, and smiled, "That's great mom. So dad is here?"

James Potter stepped from around the corner with a serious look on his face. Harry instantly sobered up and stepped towards his father, "Hey dad. How are things at the Potter Villa?"

Harry started to step forward to embrace the man, but James Potter just stood their with a cold look on his face, while Harry asked, "Dad? Prongs?"

James Potter then spoke, "Nine generations of male Potters have been placed in Gryffindor. Never has a Potter been sorted into Hufflepuff of all places. Your mother showed me the memory of the sorting. It asked you where you wanted to go. Yet you chose to do be different. Why?"

Harry recoiled at the coldness of his fathers voice, "I thought you'd understand. I just wanted to be somewhere I belonged. Somewhere I would flourish. I didn't want anything to hold me back."

"So you thought Gryffindor would hold you back? It didn't hold back your mother and I? Or Sirius, Remus, or for Merlin sake even Peter! So I ask again, why didn't you follow into our footsteps?"

Harry was deeply hurt by his father's accusing tone. Lily stepped forward, "James, I think its wonderful that Harry wanted what was best for his future. The hat would not have placed him outside of Gryffindor if he didn't belong there."

The look her husband gave her actually put her to silence, "Your brother and sister are now considering for once in their lives that maybe Gryffindor won't be there home. All because you thought to be different."

Harry took the same cold tone with his father, "And if they join me in Hufflepuff great, I will look out for them, but if not they will join Neville, and Neville will look after them. I am not seeing the problem here."

James roared, "You broke tradition! You might as well have just gone off and been a bloody snake."

Lily admonished her husband for raising his voice, "James Potter! We do not raise our voices at the children like that."

James seemed to tone it down a bit at her voice, but the look he gave Harry was of simple betrayal that Harry could not understand, "I had such high hopes for you. I thought you would go to Gryffindor, be a seeker in your first year, second at the latest. Win the dueling championship for Gryffindor, the quittditch cup, the house cup, be head boy in your seventh year, prefect by your fifth. In one night all those hopes destroyed because you went to Hufflepuff."

Harry felt his heartbreak. He had never seen his dad so upset at him. He didn't think his dad would really care, "I'm sorry dad. I didn't think it would be a big deal. I thought you would be happy with where ever I was sorted. Clearly I was wrong."

Harry then looked at his father then at his mother, "Well I am going to return to my dorms. I guess I won't be welcome back at the holidays, so I will see you this summer dad. Tell Jack and Rosalie I will write to them...goodnight."

The oldest Potter scion turned to walk out, and even after his mother called out to him he didn't stop. As soon as he made it to the hallway he took off into a run. He didn't know where he was running, but he didn't stop. Not even when he ran past his fifth year prefect walking with some other prefect. They both shouted after him, and even fired spells at him, but Harry was simply to fast. Eventually he made it to the entrance hall, and didn't stop there. He just kept running. When he made it to the edge of the grounds and to the forbidden forest, he kept running. Not even caring about the danger he was putting himself in, he just needed to get away. He couldn't see that look of disappointment again.

After several minutes he stopped. He then looked around to see he was deep in the forest. He whipped out his wand and attempted to cast a patronus, but no happy memory could come to him that would even produce the mist.

Harry then fell to his knees and sobbed. Everything he did in life, everything was to please his father, and his mother. Mostly his father though, because despite what everyone thought, he looked up to him even over the headmaster. It was after all his father that pulled one over on the Dark Lord with his mum's help. It was his dad who embodied the strength of a leader, and it was his father he wanted to grow up and be like. Having a nice home a beautiful family, a job he loved, because it symbolized a long happy life. Something Harry was never guaranteed to have because of the prophesy. As he cried he heard a stirring in the forest. Quickly standing up he wiped his tears away wand drawn, "Whose there?"

A low growl emitted from around him and he turned firing off sparks in that direction hoping to spook whatever was out there. However Harry saw nothing even with the addition of the lights. Looking around quickly Harry realized just the size of his mistake was. He inwardly cursed himself, why hadn't he run into the bathroom or a broom cupboard, now he was in trouble, and with his emotions out of wack he couldn't rely on serious magic.

Knowing that he was in danger he brought his occulmency shields slamming into place calling, "You want a piece of me! Bring it on!"

Harry fired the gouging curse straight towards the nearest sound and may have missed it by inches. He then saw something fly through the air away from him. Whatever it was, he must have actually hit it. In a realization that it could come back he began running back the way he came. After a while he seemed to realize he had run to deep, and he had no idea where he was. He realized though if he started changing directions now he would just wind up losing his trail even more, so decided to look up into the sky and followed the direction of the moon, which he hoped was north. He followed it for what felt like hours, and it very well may have been. Harry saw a few creatures of the night, a stray acromantula that avoided him, and unicorn that was beckoning him forward. After a while longer he heard a soft trill echo through the forest, and he would have recognized that sound from anywhere. All his fear had instantly dissipated, and he felt calm once again. A beautiful red phoenix was flying through the air, and landed next to Harry on a branch. Harry smiled at the creature clearly relieved, "Have you come to bring me back Fawkes? I am lost!"

The creature chirped at him as if he was berating him for his stupidity, "I know I'm sorry, just please take me back to the gates."

The phoenix nodded, and landed on Harry's shoulder leaving a column of fire behind them, and suddenly Harry was back on the grounds of Hogwarts. The heir to the Potter family sighed, "What are the chances you don't tell anyone about this?"

An older voice rang throughout the garden, "Pretty slim Mr. Potter, pretty slim."

Harry sighed as he wiped his eyes and looked at the headmaster who for once was not smiling at him. Trying to think of a reasonable explanation he decided with the truth, "I'm sorry Headmaster, I was really upset, and I just started running. By the time I stopped, I couldn't find my way back."

The headmaster sighed, "It is cold tonight Harry, please, let us finish this in my office. However if you could send a message to your prefect I understand he was rather worried when you bolted past him and avoided his hexes to stop you."

Harry had a blush creep up his body, and tried to cast his happy memories to the front of mind, but couldn't, "I'm sorry headmaster, I can't seem to find the proper memories tonight. Will you please send Darrel the message?"

The headmaster chuckled, "Alas I cannot. My patronus is simply to bright, and I do not wish to disrupt things. You will have to find it within you to cast your patronus."

Harry sighed as he closed his eyes trying to think of better times. He then thought about a memory where Rosalie, Jack, and himself were out playing quittditch with their dad. His mum had even played the family match up, with James playing all time keeper. Harry focused on this memory, then flicked his wrist outwards, "Expecto Patronum!"

The mist was weaker than usual, but he was able to cast it off, "Darrel, its Harry, I am with professor Dumbledore, and I am okay...I will see you in the common room tonight or in the morning."

When the silver mist disappeared Harry asked, "Professor Dumbledore? Since my Patronus doesn't take a shape yet, what do others see when I send them a message?"

Dumbledore turned and began walking with Harry right on his heels, "I believe they just see a form of you. I did not cast a full Patronus until after I had left Hogwarts Harry, but I was able to cast a mist during my fifth year."

Knowing that the memory must have been with Grindelwald Harry dropped the line of questioning. After a few moments Dumbledore asked, "While its a fine night Harry, I don't think it was prudent to run off into the __Dark__ forest alone. Perhaps you should've sought out my company, and we could've taken a stroll of the grounds. The black lake is rather beautiful this time of night."

Harry sighed, "I'm sorry headmaster. I wasn't thinking."

Dumbledore chuckled, "On the contrary my boy, I think you were thinking so much that you just overlooked the simple idea of turning to a friend. Now tell me, what had you so upset."

Not even questioning his options Harry plunged into the story of how his dad had approached him in Lily Potters quarters, and explained the words that James Potter had said to him. By the end of the story they were in the headmasters office, while Dumbledore had a frown on his face, "I see. I understand why you were upset Harry, but you must remember that the dark forest is not safe this time of night. In fact I am not even sure I would say the Hogwarts grounds are safe this time of night. You must be more careful, until our little problem is taken care of."

Harry nodded knowing that Dumbledore was referring to the potentially treacherous professor Quirrel, "Of course headmaster it won't happen again."

Dumbledore nodded with a little bit of a twinkle in his eye again, "I know it won't Harry."

Neither of two said a word, and minutes passed before Dumbledore spoke again, "Your fathers words affected you greatly. I can tell. Your magic is coming off you in a different pattern than it usually does. Normally it is bright, and eager, but tonight it is dull and sad. Perhaps I can say a few words to make you feel better?"

Harry nodded, "Please."

"James Potter is a proud individual. With the help of his wife they vanquished a Dark Lord from our lands. They prevented the loss of thousands of lives, perhaps around the world, but that is not his most prideful accomplishment. I remember the day you were born, I remember the look on your father's face. I had never seen a prouder man. That was until you got your first broom at age five I believe, then once again I had to say I had never seen a man with such pride in his child. I believe that James wanted more than anything for you to follow in his footsteps. Now he was willing to concede that pranking may not have been your strong suit, and was willing to let that go, because you two shared such common interest, dueling, quittditch, types of magic, but I think he fully believed that you would follow his footsteps as a marauder into Gryffindor. Your father has an infamous legacy in that house, and I believe he hoped you would continue it." Dumbledore explained.

"Do you think I should've told the hat differently headmaster? Do you think I should have asked it to put me in Gryffindor?" Harry asked desperately.

The headmaster shook his head, "I believe you did the right thing Harry. Your father will see that in time. I believe he may have even already seen it. After the stern conversation Lily probably had with him after you left, I am sure he regrets his words, and will seek you out tomorrow for reconciliation."

Harry took a deep breath, "There is no greater redemption than reconciliation."

Dumbledore was once again smiling a little brighter at those familiar words, "Those were wise words imprinted on me from my mentor Nicholas Flamel. I am glad you have picked up on them as easily as I had."

Sighing in stress Harry nodded, "Almost everything I do is to please him headmaster. His words wounded me like I never have before. The look of disappointment was one I was not used to professor."

Dumbledore turned his smile sad, clearly wishing he could curse James Potter right now, "Life will be filled with hurtful words, and even great compliments, the best thing one can do is remember both, and continue. Life is not about power, its about choices. Now it is very late, and you have classes tomorrow. You should go get some rest. I am sure your friends will be worried about you, but you can explain it to them after your morning training."

Harry paled looking at the time realizing that sleep wasn't really going to be an option tonight, "Thank you for sending Fawkes after me headmaster. I may have roamed the forest for days without him. By the way, please don't tell my parents about this. If they find out then Neville will to, and I was already yelled at once for going off without him."

Dumbledore merely chuckled, "I won't betray your confidence this time Mr. Potter, but Mr. Longbottom is right. The only people who will know of this incident is Mr. Abbot, and Professor Sprout. Both of whom I have a feeling you will be speaking to soon."

Dumbledore simply nodded at him, as Harry said goodnight, but before he left he felt an overwhelming desire to tell the headmaster about the creature he saw in the forest, "Headmaster?"

Dumbledore who was on his feet preparing to go into his private quarters looked back in surprise, "Yes, Harry?"

"There was a creature in the forest. It was following me. I through the gouging hex at it, and it took off into the air. I hadn't honestly thought about it much professor, but now that I am thinking a little more clearly, I could have sworn that it looked humanoid of some type. Definitely not a vampire, for I swear I could almost detect a magical signature, and I have never experienced anything like its presence." Harry explained.

"Did this creature scare you?"

"No headmaster, I felt a surprising amount of anger though. Then just now when I was getting ready to leave, I just felt like I had an overwhelming desire to tell you about it. Almost as if it was very important. I don't know, maybe I am just tired." Harry admitted.

"Try to get some rest. If the feeling is still bothering you tomorrow I ask that you come and see me though."

"Of course headmaster. Goodnight."

With that Harry exited the office of Albus Dumbledore. He couldn't help the feeling that he was being watched, and drew his wand in anticipation. He didn't like the castle so much at night when was alone, and honestly the boy was a little freaked out, but when he made it to the common room he relaxed. It was nearly one AM, and Harry decided that he would just take a nap on the couch, so he didn't awaken his housemates. As he closed his eyes he began thinking of that creature, and suddenly had the feeling of intense fear like he had never felt before. When he closed his eyes he saw nothing, but unpleasant things.

****(A/N) Short chapter. Sorry for the two day late update, but you will get another update Sunday, and I will do better to be on time! My apologies, and please review!****


	6. Reconciliation Over Redemption

****Chapter 6****

Harry was awoken by the usual jolt that came from his wand. He quickly cast a tempus to see that he woke up just in time to catch Neville. He bolted up to his room as fast and quietly as possible, and changed to his workouts clothes, where he then took off out of the common room and towards the nearby courtyard. When he arrived Neville was on the ground doing push-ups as a part of warm up exercise. When he took notice to his best friend his face darkened, "I would say good morning, but it doesn't look like yours has been to pleasant. What happened to you, you look like hell mate?"

Giving the boy a frustrated look he sighed, "My dad had some choice words about not choosing to be in Gryffindor. Needless to say he didn't draw me a congratulations poster or anything like that."

Neville shook his head, "That bad huh?"

Harry nodded his head gravely, but then shook it off, "But come on, its a beautiful morning, and the sun will be rising over the lake. We can duel down there, which can help me blow off some steam."

Neville nodded and followed in behind Harry as he began jogging down the courtyard and onto the Hogwarts grounds. They basically followed the same route as yesterday, where Harry led him through the edge of the forbidden forest, which made him extra uneasy that morning, and then around the greenhouse and quittditch pitch. After an hour of jogging they laid down a final sprint to the black lake matching each other in a bit of a race, before they made it to the beach and collapsed in temporary exhaustion. The two were even laughing as the race was so close it was hard to declare a winner. After a few moments the two stood in meditative positions across from each other, and took turns taking deep breaths. They felt there magic tune in with each other, and even helped flare it around.

At the end of their little practice Harry stood up wand in hand, "Today we duel, tomorrow we do shield practice? Sound good?"

Neville grinned, "As long as I kick your ass it will be great!"

Harry groaned as he held his wand in the ready position and his best friend quickly matching. The two then bowed and raised their wands at each other. Harry spoke out, "To incapacitation, go!"

Neville quickly fired off a stunner in hope to catch him off guard, but Harry's shield was up so fast, if you blinked you missed it. Harry then returned his five chain spell, however with the first two having missed him completely his last three were almost completely ineffective. Neville was even using the sand to knock away his blasting curse, and used the deprimo charm to cause the wind to obscure his vision. Neville laughed, "Hanging out with all them badgers has made you soft Harry!"

Growling Harry started charging forward, throwing stunning, and freezing charms at the boy. Neville was quick to be on the defensive, and only managed to throw back a few counters. Harry however was now throwing blasting curses into the sand throwing huge piles at him, which forced him to shield constantly. Neville then laughed as he flung his wand around causing all the sand to dissipate, and then fired a loud blast of incendio straight at Harry. In an initial panic, Harry casted the water charm, but this only served to turn the fire into something more solid causing the Potter heir to dive out of the way! Harry then through a shield breaker, followed by his first silent curse, __Perficus Totalus!__

Neville was suddenly stiff as a board, and as fast as the duel had begun it was over. Harry smirked as he twirled his wand around triumphantly, "And that is one for the badger! Zero for the lion."

Harry removed the curse from his friend while Neville coughed up a little bit of sand, "Merlin! Did you just throw the last spell non-verbally?"

Harry grinned, "That I did! By complete accident mind you, but I did!"

A voice came from behind them, "That was some impressive spell work. Your grand dad is smiling at you from the other side."

Harry whirled around wand prepared to fire, but realized it was just James Potter. Harry lowered his wand with a sad look, "We were just leaving. Sorry for disturbing you, we will keep it down."

James called out, "Harry wait!"

However Harry didn't stop, but James threw a freezing spell at him, and Harry spun around and deflected it, "Bad move Prongs!"

Harry then launched a full assault at his father who had just attacked him. It came with a volley of silent stunners, and an array of fast paced spells. James however simply through up one shield he had never seen before, and simply could not break it. He finally however fired his shield breaking hex, and James was forced to return fire, or end up hurt. The two seemed to lock in a full magical duel while Neville was even preparing to attack James Potter, but suddenly a huge burst of magic swept the beach and James Potter went flying backwards. Harry was standing there taking deep breaths. Neville whistled as he carefully approached his friend, "Wandless banishing charm. Impressive."

Harry nodded with his wand still pointed at his dad, "Are you going to fire any more spells at me James Potter?"

James merely didn't move though as Harry approached him. At first he thought he had actually hurt the man, but as he got closer he heard a light sniffle. He could see tears in his father's eyes when he approached him, and Neville said, "Either his pride is broken, or his ribs are broken one or the other!"

Harry almost laughed at his friend when James cried out, "I'm sorry Harry. I'm so sorry!"

Neville and Harry exchanged looks clearly acknowledging that it was indeed the man's pride that was broken. Harry offered the man his hand who took it gratefully, and once he found his feet he embraced his son for all he was worth. This almost resulted in Neville cursing the man, but when he realized the auror was just hugging his son, he lowered his wand, "I'm sorry Harry! I was just so stunned and surprised, traditions be damned, I am sorry!"

Harry acknowledged his father by patting him on the back, "Its okay dad really."

James shook his head, "No it wasn't. The headmaster called me in and said he had spoken with you, but it wasn't until after I talked to him that I realized it wasn't what I said, it was the way I treated you over it. I could never be disappointed in you! You are one of the hardest workers I have ever met, with a wonderful ambition that is going to change the world! I have no right to decide what house you belong in, I can just only hope that you and Neville continue my marauder legacy, because its not just the house that made us infamous but the very school that was our playground. I hope you go on to become Head boy, and Seeker, and all those other things, but I want you to do so on your own ambitions, not off of mine! I lived through my glory days, and I know I am going to see them again through your eyes as you grow older!"

Harry hugged his dad tighter at these words, when Harry broke the tension, "How much trouble are you in with mum?"

James laughed separating the two, and wiping away a tear, "Oh she is livid with me right now! I fully expect I deserve it though. A few nights on the couch may help me learn my lesson. Jack and Rosalie are furious with me, after your mum told them that we had an argument. Your little sister thinks the world of you, because she was causing not so accidental magic to bite me all night!"

Harry laughed, "That's my girl!"

James pouted a bit at that, then asked, "Are we okay Harry? I had resolved myself that I wasn't going to leave until we made things right."

The young man still felt the hurt from the previous night, but the words of Dumbledore came flowing into his mind about reconciliation. Finally he smiled at his dad, "Were good!"

Harry almost mentioned that if he had to serve detention because of him he was going to be most put out, but he shrugged it off realizing he to probably deserved it for not bringing in a tighter reign on his emotions. Neville sighed, "Lord you two can try and kill each other one moment, then hug it out the next! Can we get back to the school and shower, I would really not like to be late to my second day of classes!"

James Potter nodded, and joked that he would race the boys back to the school. Little did he know both boys would take it as a challenge and darted off in the direction of the castle. By the time they had made it, the clock was almost at 7:45 which gave them little time to shower, get ready, and go to class, so they decided that James would go get them breakfast in the Kitchens, and would feed them before they headed off to Herbology!

When Harry made it back to his common room, the entire house was up, and he once again entered drenched in sweat. When Darrel Abbot saw Harry he took a deep breath, "Thank Merlin Potter, I was stressing out about you! I checked your bed this morning, and thought that Patronus was fake."

Giving the boy an apologetic look he said, "Sorry Darrel, I didn't want to wake you when I returned from the headmasters office."

Ignoring his apology he asked, "What exactly happened last night? You were running as if the devil himself was after you! Is everything okay?"

Harry flinched at the memory, "Yeah everything is good now. I am guessing I have you to thank for calling for Dumbledore. Probably saved my life. But if we talk about that lets do it in private."

Darrel nodded his head, "Alright Potter, I am just glad your okay. You were dodging Percy and my curses like a champion. We were on patrol together when you rounded that corner."

Harry chuckled, "I honestly didn't even see Percy. I noticed someone else, but when you guys started trying to fling curses at me I didn't slow down for anything."

Darrel's face darkened a bit, "We chased you out of the school, but when you hit the grounds you were like smoke in the night. We couldn't even see you. We even used point me, but it kept taking us to the forbidden forest...you didn't happen to go in there did you?"

Harry flushed deeply, thinking 'well that cat is out of the bag', "Lets not talk about this now. I really need to shower, and freshen up."

Darrel Abbot nodded as he too noticed they had gathered most the house, "I want to talk to you more about this later Potter!"

Harry saluted the boy and made his way up to his dormitory. When he made it in Ernie was the first to ask, "Merlin Harry where have you been?"

Harry in exasperation responded, "Can we talk about this later I really need to shower! You guys go on ahead to breakfast I will explain everything at lunch!"

The boys all nodded as Harry plunged himself into the shower. The hot water seemed to soak the stress away. By the time Harry had finished his shower and dressed, it was nearing 8:15, and he knew his best bet would be just to head down to the Greenhouses and start his day with missing a meal. Its not like he hadn't operated without meals before, and today would not be a first.

As Harry made his way down through the grand central staircase he ran into Neville and his dad who was carrying muggle protein bars that his mum was so fond of. He told us that it would hold us over until lunch, but that they shouldn't try Defense class without at least some kind of food in their systems.

The herbology lesson was the most painful of Harry's life so far. He had little knowledge or care for the subject as he hardly saw it as magical. Anything Neville touched however was quickly turned to gold if you asked Professor Sprout! In the first lesson they were to simply plant a little bit of Devil's Snare, and not only had Harry and Neville done it the fastest, but Neville basically did the whole thing by himself. Professor Sprout may have given Harry his Outstanding for the assignment, but he had a feeling that she was going to make sure that he didn't leech off Neville's work. She also awarded Neville nearly thirty points by the end of one class period!

The next lesson was a bit more up Harry's alley, with Defense Against the Dark Arts. Sitting with Ernie and Justin from his own house, the group took a seat near the front in order to hear Quirrels first lesson, however when the man started talking Harry instantly regretted it. The stuttering was out in force, but whats worse was every time the man came to close to him his scar began to burn. He wasn't quite sure what the cause was, but it was slightly annoying, and he would certainly be visiting Madame Pomfrey after the abysmal lesson. It didn't help that he had almost dozed off nearly a dozen times.

Finally towards the end of class the man was asking for a demonstration of the knockback jinx, and Harry's hand immediately shot up, anxious to do something with his magic, before he started flinging blasting curses! Quirrel clapped politely, "Splendid, now can I get a second volunteer?"

Malfoy was the next to have his hand up, and Harry smirked at the boy as Quirrel called his name out. The two faced each other, with wands drawn, while Quirrel called out, "P-P-Potter you attack first."

Harry nodded and with a flick of his wrist he snapped, "Flipendo!"

Spell zoomed so fast at Malfoy he didn't even manage to dodge it, and it knocked him straight on his but. The class laughed a bit and Malfoy shot to his feet, "Flipendo!"

Harry lazily through up a shield, and most of the class gasped, while even Quirrel exclaimed, "Incredible! Its nearly head to toe."

For once Harry noticed the defense professor didn't stutter, but Harry acknowledged it, "Thank you professor. I have worked on it for many years."

Quirrel had a grave look on his face for a moment before saying, "T-T-T-Ten points to Hufflepuff. However I ask that you only dodge and not deflect Mr. Malfoy's curses."

Harry nodded his head and motioned for Draco to fire again, but this time when he did Harry twisted out of the way and fired right back. Draco who was a bit more ready this time also ducked his head and fired the knock back jinx with rapid speed. The two went back and fourth four times before Malfoy through two in a row, and Harry jumped over one throwing the next at nearly point blank range knocking the boy to the ground once again hard, "Now that wasn't very fair Draco. We were having a good volley of spells before you went and cheated!"

Draco growled while professor Quirrel clapped, "M-M-Marvelous! Five more points to both Hufflepuff and Slytherin."

The class clapped politely as Harry offered his hand to the Slytherin. Draco however turned his head up at the boy, and took his seat. Quirrel then asked everyone to take up partners, and Harry offered to his housemates to critique them, which was taken enthusiastically, as Neville did the same with his housemates. Harry vaguely noticed that Daphne Greengrass was practicing away from Malfoy's lessons with Tracey Davis, and Blaize Zabini. This only gave the young man hope that they could escape the pureblood supremacy in the house of snakes, but somehow he doubted they would resist forever.

By the end of class they were heading to a much needed lunch, where the talk of the table was Harry's absence the previous night. Harry was grateful however that Darrel did not share information about his emotional state when he had been seen. Hannah and Susan had also extensively attempted to question him, but having grown up around people who kept secrets from him, he was exceptionally good at evading questions with only half the answer. Eventually he just told people that it was a very private matter, that he would appreciate it people would just drop it this once. That seemed to do it for most of housemates and they respected his wishes.

In history of magic the following period the green eyed young man thought he'd stretch his horizons a bit and sat with Hermione Granger, and Mandy Brocklehurst who had seemed to take a liking to each other. The two girls however welcomed him to their table with open arms, however it was more like a shoulder to cry on, by the time the class was over. Binns had droned on about how they would cover the atrocities of goblins, and Harry felt that if he had more strength he might have defended his friends in the Nation, but couldn't with his little energy. Mandy however whose mum was a potion's mistress at St. Mungos actually gave Harry a spare pepper up potion, which helped him get through the class, and the remainder of his day.

By the end of the first week of classes, Harry was pretty mentally excited for the weekend. His mum was going to be taking Neville and himself out Saturday afternoon to meet with the family, and they would catch up on Harry's habits, while Neville would also get to see him mum at the three broomsticks, where she was working with an old classmate, Madame Rosmerta.

Nothing notable happened for the rest of the week. Astronomy was a little more fun than Harry expected, however something about being under the night sky, and the adrenaline of being out late was a lot of fun to Harry. The class itself was even interesting with Professor Sinistra as the teacher. She kept things lively, and was clearly what his mum referred to as a night owl.

When Saturday afternoon had come, the Potters and the Longbottoms met at the three broomsticks for lunch where Rosalie Potter dive bombed her brother into a hug, at first site. The two laughed a bit, and Harry embraced his little sister who would not stop yapping about how exciting it must be to have landed in a different house.

He assured her that his housemates were exceptionally nice, and that things were actually kind of cool and easy being in the middle of the castle. Jack and Harry shook hands rather professionally before the two laughed and embraced much quicker than he and his little sister did. Jack had even told him with Harry having been gone, it was not so interesting watching Moony get flustered by all his questions.

His dad greeted him with a sad smile, and a glance towards Lily who seemed to approve of their reconciliation. Lily however hugged up her son simply because she left out, while Neville and his mum had been holding each other throughout the entire time of greetings. It was clear the Longbottom family had not quite been ready to separate after all these years of relying on each other.

The group spent some good family time together, but Lily had promised Dumbledore that she would have them back by mid-afternoon, so the boys could still be at dinner which was held earlier on Saturdays.

By the end of the day both boys had huge smiles on their faces, and couldn't wait until the next weekend when the family would gather again.

****(A/N) The next chapter will consist of Dueling Club tryouts, Quittditch tryouts, and interhouse conversations. It should be fairly short, but the following chapter will be the first infamous Halloween scene. Until then cheers, and I will see everyone next Sunday!****


	7. How to Save a Life

****Chapter 7****

Two weeks had passed before anything of note had happened inside Hogwarts. In the mean time Harry and Neville had made dueling a second nature to each other, with new spells being added in by the day. At the beginning of the term only stunners and blasters were being thrown, but now as they learned more advanced magic from the Hogwarts library they incorporated as much as possible to see what was effective, and what wasn't. Every Friday morning they even did a duel of feeble wandless magic. The best they could really do was minor charms and transfiguration, and even the knock back jinx, but it was still making them more efficient by the day.

Harry had enjoyed the weekends especially as he had a chance to spend a little bit of time with his younger siblings, and even his father. Lily respected Harry enough to stay away during school, unless she had a message to pass on.

The Hufflepuffs and Harry had gotten along splendidly after scoring so many points for his house, but that was only to grow on their first flying lessons at Hogwarts. It was an early Friday afternoon when the first years had all gathered on the grounds to meet Madame Hooch. Harry was ecstatic over the ideas of the lesson, and the promise it held, even Draco seemed to be wearing a genuine smile on his face. Of course that smile only lasted a few moments before the pompous and arrogance returned.

The group of students were currently looking through the shed at all the school brooms. Harry had his eyes on one from the moment he walked in, but before he could grab it, Hannah had swept from behind him grabbing it before he could, and flashed him a teasing smile. This caused the boy to temporarily forget his own name and the broom, and easily picked a different one from the storage place.

As they all strode out towards the grounds, they completed the instructions which were on the board in everyone's common rooms, and made two long rows that Madame Hooch could walk in between and see everyone at once. Harry was standing with Hannah and Ernie while the rest of his housemates were rather spread out through the lines. Across from him was Susan, Neville, and Ron, who were looking a little overzealous when they looked at their brooms. Harry however had a strange sense of dread coming over the whole lesson as the elderly witch stepped onto the pitch, "Good afternoon class!"

The class returned the ensemble, "Good afternoon Madame Hooch."

As the witch walked in between the rows she had a huge smile on her face greeting familiar students, "Welcome to your first flying lesson. What are you all waiting for. Step to your left and place your right hand over the broom and command it up to your hands."

Harry did as was instructed, as did the rest of the class, though few had the same luck as Harry did when it flew to his hand instantly. Draco Malfoy was the next to call his broom up, which made Harry think that maybe the kid did have some skill to go with all that trash talk. After a short time Neville, Susan, Zachrias, and a few others managed to as well. Madame Hooch then announced, "Very good! Now for those who could not command your broom, please pick it up, and hoist your right leg over it getting a nice mount on it, then kick up from the ground, and hoover just a few feet."

Harry was once again the first to successfully maintain flight, but Draco was much faster behind him this time, while Neville was trying to refrain from just zooming away on the school broom. Hannah Abbot however could not refrain herself and took straight towards the sky. Madame Hooch called out, "Ms. Abbot come down here at once. You must wait for further instruction!"

Hannah however wasn't listening and continued to take off higher and higher. Suddenly the girl let out a horrified screech, and at that point Harry realized his pretty blonde friend was not just playing around, she had actually lost control of her broom. With a clear mind and objective, Harry shot off towards the sky with Madame Hooch calling after him. Hannah was now heading towards the castle and sailing straight over it as Harry attempted to zoom after her. Through sheer flying prowess Harry caught up the girl screaming, "Hannah pull up!"

Hannah screamed out, "I can't!"

Suddenly the girl began plummeting towards the ground at a high speed and Harry was able to dive under her and swirl her up, "Hannah your going to have to jump. That thing is going to take you straight into the ground."

"Are you mad? I am not jumping off this thing!"

Suddenly the girl jerked hard to the left and out of Harry's control and he shouted, "Just trust me! Jump!"

As the girl and the broom made a dive towards the ground, a crucial decision was made, one that would affect the very future of the Wizarding world. In a leap of faith the girl listened to the boy she considered her friend and jumped. As she plunged to the ground at nearly ten meters per second, she felt a spell hit her in the back, and then a pair of arms wrap strongly around her, and then she felt the wind stop, and her screaming ended in an instant. Harry was holding the girl bridal style as he gently brought the broom closer to the ground, and Hannah was sobbing into his shoulder. When they hit the ground Madame Hooch was there, "Potter, Abbot explain yourselves!"

Harry spoke sharply, "I do believe you will need to have an inspection on these brooms Madame Hooch, and I would start by contacting the aurors. Hannah's was clearly jinxed. I realized it after she started screaming! I did my best to keep her from plummeting to the ground, but ultimately she just had to jump off."

When Harry stepped off the broomstick he gently placed the girl on the ground carefully, where Susan was at her side instantly. Harry however started walking over to the stick, and when Madame Hooch called him back he ignored her. He bent over the broken broomstick that had smashed into the ground and inspected it thoroughly. He then casted a finite charm on it, and picked it up into his hands. After being sure that it was of no danger to himself or anyone else he walked back over to Madame Hooch, "I do believe Professor Dumbledore will be interested to hear about this. He has an acute sense of magical signatures and whoever jinxed it will need to be charged with attempted murder. This was not a prank, but an act of violence."

Neville took his side instantly, "Had Harry not followed Hannah to the sky she would have most likely perished from a long sky dive. Well done mate. It seems your dad instilling hundreds of hours of quittditch into you finally did some real good."

Harry understood what his best friend was trying to do. One he wanted to ensure that Harry was rewarded for saving their friend, and two he wanted to make sure Madame Hooch understood that Harry had proper training and experience, and not just blindly chased after the girl, potentially putting them both in danger. In the moment Harry gave his best friend a sly grin, but no one else seemed to catch it, as they were all watching Hannah come back around to her senses. The girl attempted to stand up, and with the help of her best friend she managed to do it. She then hobbled over to Harry engulfing the boy in a hug, "Thank you Harry. You saved my life."

Harry embraced the girl tightly, for he felt her legs were about to give out and spoke softly in her ear, "What are friends for?"

At this point Madame Hooch seemed to come to her senses, "Thirty Points to Hufflepuff for astoundingly quick thinking, and loyalty to a friend. I do believe class is dismissed...Potter, I will be speaking to your head of house about this, as well as the headmaster. You displayed a stunning ability to fly, and control over your magic, with hitting Ms. Abbot with a featherweight charm, and the levitating charm, well done. I do believe Hufflepuff has been looking for a replacement Chaser, and you just may want to get with Mr. Diggory to work out such a thing. I do believe he is the new team captain for Hufflepuff."

Harry nodded at the flying professor as she dismissed the class. Most of Hufflepuff along with some of the Gryffs had stuck around to talk to Harry, Ron Weasley however was the first to speak, "You could be the youngest Quittditch player in a century mate! First years never make the house team."

Giving the boy a light smile he said, "I think it'll just be cool to tryout. Maybe Cedric will let me be an understudy for someone so I have a guaranteed spot next year. Regardless of that though, Hannah are you okay?"

Her roommate Megan Jones who was their medical go to girl was already reaching around in her bag for a calming draft which would help ease the girls mind. After she had done the effects were almost instant, "I'm okay. Just a little mentally exhausted. Almost dying will do that to you."

Neville and Harry exchanged knowing looks, and just shook their heads in agreement with the girls statement, while Harry chimed, "Susan you should take Hannah to her brother, and let him see her. As fast as word travels I am sure he will know about it in a few minutes. I will send Darrel a patronus to let him know where you two are headed."

The pretty red head just nodded her head, while her and Megan helped the girl steady herself and walked back towards the castle. The other 'Puffs who were all boys patted Harry on the back and congratulated him on saving the girl. Ernie even briefly mentioned something about a life debt, but it was the last thing on Harry's mind. When it was finally just Ron, Harry, and Neville, Harry spoke, "I think that broom was intended for me."

Neville's face darkened while Ron looked confused, "What are you talking about Harry?"

"When the Puff's and I reached the storage closet my eyes immediately locked on that broom. Originally I thought it was quittditch instincts, and figured it would be the best broom out there. Hannah however noticed it about the same time as me, and snatched it before I could. So now I am not so sure." Harry explained.

Neville quickly came up with an explanation, "A compulsion charm maybe. Anyone in this school that could've gotten something of yours could have placed the charm, anyone above third year maybe."

Ron gasped, "You think someone intentionally placed that jinxed broom in the cabinets."

"Expect the best, and prepare for the worse. That is what Sirius always taught me." Harry proclaimed.

Agreeing Neville sighed, "We shouldn't rule anything out for sure. Especially someone older."

The green eyed boy and his best friend exchanged knowing looks, already thinking of one possible suspect...Professor Quirrel.

Later that day Cedric approached Harry about quittditch tryouts which he was hosting on Sunday. He had a written approval from Professor Sprout to allow him into tryouts, and the boy enthusiastically told him that either way he would have a place on the team as an understudy, or as a full time player depending on the talent of the chaser tryouts. Dumbledore had even sent him a message, requesting his presence after dinner, but none of that was nearly as interesting as the conversation he had with Darrel Abbot that afternoon.

After lunch had finished, and before Harry could head off to his last class of the week which was Charms, the fifth year Hufflepuff prefect stopped him and told everyone else to go ahead. Normally the site as someone as large as Darrel holding someone up would intimidate a man, but Harry just kept an even look on his face, while Darrel spoke, "Look Potter, I just wanted to thank you for what you did for my sister. I obviously didn't see it myself, but I am getting my dad's pensieve and would like to see the memory if you wouldn't mind showing it?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders, "I'm not so sure you want to. Its a memory I will be hopefully quick to forget. For a few horrifying moments I thought I wasn't going to catch her, or that I was going to miss her when I flung that hex at her."

Darrel nodded in understanding but countered, "You grew up with your dad, who I know instilled the Pureblood traditions in you. I think you have to understand just what this means."

Harry shook his head, "I won't acknowledge a life debt between the two of us. Unless your head of house takes it as a slight of respect, then I won't do that to Hannah, she is my friend."

"You say that now, but in a few years you may regret that decision. I know you didn't save her with the intention to get a life debt, if you did you would've declared it immediately, and I am sure we would've ended up locking wands over it." Darrel conceded.

Laughing for a moment, Harry realized the older boy was not joking, "I know the implications Darrel, and I will send word to my father of what has happened. But if I can avoid it, I will not put that kind of pressure on Hannah. Besides were to young to claim anything fun or useful out of a life debt. I have heard what older purebloods do, and I can honestly say I am probably to young to consider something like that."

With a knowing look Darrel nodded, "But that hasn't stopped people in the past. I am sure had the tables been set differently and Malfoy had saved her, she would've been forced into a rather unpleasant life. I guess what I am trying to say other than thank you Harry is that, if you ever need something, from me or her, please all you have to do is ask."

Harry gave the boy a smile, "Just give me a fair shot at the dueling team. And I do mean fair. Just because I am a first year doesn't mean I can't handle a wand. Other than that Darrel, I don't request anything besides friendship, from either of you."

Darrel gave the boy an eye of respect and offered his hand, "That's a promise Potter. I look forward to tryouts tomorrow."

Harry gave the boy a salute, and took off towards his next class knowing he was going to be late. Arriving at Charms led to him explaining in private with professor of why he was late, and thankfully the tiny professor did not take off points from his house, as he to had heard of what had transpired on the quittditch pitch that afternoon.

Classes had come and gone and Dinner was already coming to an end, when the headmaster motioned for Harry to join him up at the head table. It was clear that whatever Dumbledore had to say he wanted it to be public, "Can I have everyone's attention please. It has made it my old ears today that on our very own Hogwarts ground we almost lost a first year student. Thanks to the quick and noble efforts of our own Harry Potter, we were able to prevent such a thing from happening, however I must warn everyone to be extra vigilant in these coming times. It had been determined that the broomstick that Ms. Abbot was put on was indeed hexed with some type of obscure charm that left no magical trace even to my eyes. I fear there is nothing we can do at this point, but hope this was a harmless prank gone wrong. I understand Madame Hooch awarded Mr. Potter thirty points for his quick thinking, and I will award him twenty more for the willingness to help a friend. Well done Mr. Potter!"

Harry gave the headmaster a slight bow of respect, and took his seat with his housemates pounding on him on the back and roaring their approval. The rest of school even politely clapped for the heroics, but some were clearly concerned by Dumbledore's message. Harry was stealing looks at Quirrel for the rest of the evening, and even at one point went to talk to his mum before he was dismissed from dinner.

The next day proved to be a little less eventful than the previous. To start the day Harry was in the great hall while the Hufflepuffs lined up for the House dueling team. Darrel had explained it to Harry pretty simply. You had a twelve duelers from each house. Five of them would rotate every event, and the captain and co-captain would switch off in every event. The co-captain and captain cannot fight in the same round, but one of the two must fight in every match against rival houses. From there you were seeded by your captain, and you would face the other houses duelers. For example, Tonks was the first seed dueler even though she was not the captain, she was the co-captain, so Tonks would be the last to fight, and if it was like it normally was then she would have to face the Slytherin Headboy in their match against Slytherin because he was the first seed in his house. However it is possible that the sixth seed dueler (Marcus Flint last year) could go on a run and end up fighting Tonks, to win the match for his house, because he upset all the other Hufflepuff duelers. If Marcus did not win, then Tonks would have to follow up by defeating five more duelers. This is unlikely, but not unheard of. So the match always starts with the eleventh or twelfth seed and then it goes forward from there.

The youngest person on last years Hufflepuff dueling team was Cedric Diggory and he was a third year. However a Gryffindor from last year Cormac Mclagen had made it and he was a second year. It was rumored that Neville was likely to make it this year, as the Gryffindor team had already had their tryouts.

Harry sat their in his dueling equipment as he watched several contestants step to the plate and attempt to shield against blasting charms thrown by Tonks and Darrel. The two would take turns against each contestant, and they were asked to shield against three charms, and then return three, if they could go on then the two would duel for a short bit. So far Harry had noticed only six people make it to the stage, and all of them lost rather quickly from there. Harry knew Darrel had to fill three spots, because he had lost three seventh years last year, including the captain, so the green-eyed boy had hope. It was also an interesting scene because many adults had gathered in the great hall, and not just parents (including his own), but Hufflepuff alumni, who were invited by professor Sprout.

Harry decided to pass the time with meditation and after maybe twenty duelers (they started with the oldest) they had finally made it to Harry. When Professor Sprout called out his name, his eyes shot open and jumped to his feet with lightning fast reflexes. If he learned anything from his godfather its that sometimes the wow factor can go a long way. Darrel Abbot tapped Tonks out of the ring and he announced, "I acknowledge that I have let a first year into tryouts, and while some may be skeptical, I gave my word to put together the best team possible, and from what I have heard Harry has some potential, and today we are going to test that. Now Harry, I am going to throw three blasting charms your way. I want you to shield, deflect, or dodge these curses in anyway you feel necessary. Is that understood?"

Harry nodded his head, his wand at the ready. Darrel looked towards the stands to ensure Madame Pomfrey and Professor Sprout were ready, and then he flicked his wand forward, "Flipendo!"

The spell whizzed towards Harry, but he lazily flicked it to the side without batting an eyelash. This led to a light applause and Darrel threw his next two spells together, "Stupefy, Perifcus Totalus!"

This time Harry flicked up a full shield that the crowd completely gasped at. Darrel for a second even looked at the shield stunned for a moment, but shook it off, "Now I would like you to throw three different curses at me. Make them whatever you want, and I will use my shield to deflect them."

Harry nodded making a quick step forward, "Deprimo, Expelliarmus!"

Harry threw the first spells as a part of a chain, then lastly followed up with his silent Perifcus Totalus, which was so far the only spell he could consistently cast silently. The crowd was now chattering immensely at the site of a first year casting non-verbal magic, while Darrel had a huge grin on his face, "Very good Potter, now we shall duel, until I disarm or stun you. Are you ready?" When Harry nodded he turned to Professor Sprout, "Please count us down professor!"

Sprout did as asked, and at the three Harry started running forward flicking spells at rapid speed. On initial impact he had caught his soon to be captain by surprise and Darrel was forced onto the defensive. However Harry was not used to dueling against power, as the young man quickly dodged under his last two spells, and returned with a few powerful blasting charms, and even a shield breaker, which caused Harry to role backwards, leaving scorch marks in his wake. However when Darrel fired incarcerous, Harry spun around the ropes flying in his direction and banished them right back at the boy causing Darrel to incinerate them with incendio.

Harry who knew since he had lasted this long he had already made the team attempted to go for a five chain and win the duel, "Reducto, Stupefy, Deprimo, Expelliarmus, Incarcerous!"

The first two spells were blocked, but the next one through him off balance, and the next one caught him in the chest instead of the usual disarming shot to the wand. This sent the boy flying backwards and had still managed to avoid the ropes. However the crowd was applauding the site of someone throwing up a hell of a fight. Before Harry could do much else he saw three spells flying his way, all were silent, and he in an initial panic conjured his best shield and didn't realize the first was a shield breaker, and the next two were stunners.

When Harry's eyes opened Darrel was standing over him, he spoke quietly "Well kid I think its safe to say you made the cut, where on Earth did you learn to duel like that? I have never seen a first year cast a chain spell like that."

Harry grinned at the boy, "The Potter's have always been great at battle magic, which gives us an edge in duels. My dad calls it like a sixth sense, the only way I can describe it is as if you've been doing something for so long it just comes naturally to you, and you don' even have to think about it!"

Darrel laughed, "Well I'm glad we got you Potter! Not bad at all."

He helped the boy to his feet and the crowds in the stands were applauding, and Harry could see his parents with beaming faces, along with Padfoot who was hooting and barking. Darrel then announced, "That concludes our tryouts. I will be selecting three duelers, after I congregate with my head of house, and my co-captain. Thank you everyone for coming, I hope you enjoyed, and I hope to see you at our first match Vs. Ravenclaw in six weeks."

The spectators once again clapped, and a few alumni Hufflepuff even spoke with him briefly on how he would be the next great dueler. Harry took it all modestly, and wished he could say the same thing for his godfather and father, who were bragging and looking proud to anyone who would listen. When James made it over to his son he ruffled his hair, "You may just be getting advanced enough to look into the Potter Grimoire. I think come next school year I could have taught you most of the defensive magic. Though I think I want to see how you do your first year on just the common stuff. Plus I will have to make sure you can do it all non-verbally. But I am proud of you son, that was some fine dueling. Your grandpa Charlus would be having a ball watching you."

Sirius added in, "I wish I could teach you some stuff from my grimoire pup, but its mostly dark magic, maybe when your out of Hogwarts though I'll teach you some of it!"

The group then discussed the tryouts and who they thought the other picks would be. Everyone was fairly certain that Harry would be one of the picks, and Harry did not bother confirming it with what Darrel had told him. Sirius even jokingly pointed out that if he had dueled like that against Tonks he may have tripped her up in surprise and knocked her out cold.

This conversation came to a rapid close when a tall man with short brown hair approached the group. He had a goatee, and sharp blue eyes that reminded him of a girl he had been close friends with. Of course Harry recognized him as Lord Abbot, so when James Potter saw him come over, formalities were instantly engaged, "Lord Abbot I did not even see you among the group. I am sure you are quiet proud your son made captain this year, I offer you my congratulations."

Lord John Abbot gave the group a smile, "Thank you Lord Potter, Lady Potter it is good to see you. Lord Black, a pleasure as always. I hope I am not intruding on anything, but I believe there is something we all need to discuss."

James who had clearly not been made aware of the situation yesterday looked confused, and almost a little insulted, "Please go ahead Lord Abbot. I assure you, you didn't interrupt anything that can't wait. Is this a serious matter?"

Lord Abbot nodded, "Aye it is. I was hoping we could all take this somewhere a little more private. I would of course require your heir to be present, but is there anyway we can use your private quarters Lady Potter? It is my understanding that it holds a formal sitting room?"

Lily who was of course aware of what happened yesterday spoke quickly, "Of course Lord Abbot. Please follow me, I am just down the hall."

James put a hand on his sons shoulder and gave it a tight squeeze, as the group walked down the hall to the teachers living quarters. When Lily Potter gave her password to the portrait they all slid in, and James questioned, "Now what is this all about, I have to say I am concerned that you wished my heir to be here during these matters, while neither of yours are."

Lord Abbot raised an eyebrow, "Were you not made aware of the situation that has unfolded on the Hogwarts ground yesterday afternoon?"

Harry gave a short bow, recognizing the formality of the situation, "Forgive me Lord Abbot, that would be my fault. Things were a little hectic yesterday and I did not get a chance to inform my father. I supposed I assumed to much thinking Lady Potter would have informed him straight away."

Lord Abbot waved it off, "It is no matter Heir Potter...Lord Potter I would like to officially recognize that my family now owes your son, and by extension your family a life debt. Yesterday during the first flying lessons offered here at Hogwarts, my daughter Hannah got on a broom that was jinxed, and your son and heir flew the above and beyond to save her. If I am to believe what my son and daughter told me, he saved her from a nearly one hundred foot ball to her death. For that I cannot express my thanks enough, but I do believe the family must recognize the severity of the situation."

Padfoot whistled, "Prongslet you've done it now."

Harry glared at his godfather, while James looked on in shock, "How would you like to proceed?"

Lord Abbot looked a little troubled by his next words, but he said them anyway, "Would a marriage contract perhaps settle the matter?"

Lily Potter quickly stepped into the matter, "It most certainly does not Lord Abbot. As allies to the house of Potter we could never ask for such a price. I know it is my belief as well as Lord Potters that marriage is strictly used for love, and not political gain."

James and Lord Abbot exchanged heavy looks while James put a soft arm on his wife's, "Lils, this is a little more difficult. Normally you would be right, but since House Abbot is of the same ancient standings as House Potter it makes things a bit trickier then had Harry saved someone like Draco who is of a technical lesser house. A price must be set and made, whether the alliance stands or not."

Lord Abbot offered a counter, "Perhaps a hefty sum of galleons will settle the matter? That and the promise to strengthen our family ties together?"

Harry intervened, "I don't want your money Lord Abbot. All that I have ever asked for is your children's friendship. It is not right that just because I risk my life to save one of their's that they don't get to walk away free. No harm was done, can't it just be settled with the promise to strengthen family ties?"

James sighed, "I wish it were that easy Harry. I too would just agree to the strengthen of family ties, but you being the heir to the family, saving another potential heir to the ancient and noble family makes things difficult...How about this Lord Abbot. I propose a compromise. For now we leave it as a life debt and a promise to strengthen family ties. However in three years, upon Harry's fourteenth birthday we can reconvene to establish a next step. If Hannah somehow saves my heirs life in the next three years, or something happens to one of them, then the debt is absolved?"

Lord Abbot looked at his counterpart, then with a nod offered his hand, "That sounds like a generous offer. Thank you Lord Potter, and most of all thank you Harry. It is only because of you that I was able to hug my daughter this morning."

Harry gave the man a short bow, "Of course sir. Hannah is my friend, and I would've been quite distraught had something happened to her."

The older man merely smiled, "I hope your friendship blossoms into something much more in future years Heir Potter. You make for a strong young man, and what I recognize as one day a very powerful lord. Thank you Lord Potter, Lady Potter, and Lord Black for your time. I bid you all good day, and perhaps I shall see you all again at the next Wizengamot meeting, or quittditch match. I have heard your son may just find him a spot on the Badgers quittditch team as well?"

Harry nodded, "Tryouts are tomorrow!"

James and Sirius both looked gobsmacked by that while Lord Abbot offered the boy his hand, "Well good luck to you son. I look forward to hearing more about your progress as a student, wizard, and quittditch player. Until next time." Before Lord Abbot made his way to the exit he added, "My heir and your new captain has my pensieve. I would appreciate it very much if you lent him the memory for the family to watch. I will be back on this side of the country next weekend and would like to see just how events unfolded."

Lord Abbot then tipped his hat and walked out of the room. When the Lord walked out James picked his son up in a mighty hug, "Son you are a freaking prodigy I tell you! Saving girls lives, making the dueling team, getting an opportunity as a first year to sign up for the quittditch team! You are making us marauders look bad in terms of legacy!"

Harry laughed as Sirius called out, "Prongs he is going to be an animagus by third year just you watch!"

Lily even bent down and gave her son a kiss on the cheek, "Your doing good Harry, but please watch out for yourself. I think the whole broom incident is only just the beginning."

Harry nodded in understanding, but prayed his mother was wrong.

The next day were quittditch tryouts. They were holding tryouts for just about every position except seeker, where Diggory was firmly placed. Harry wished he was larger that way he may have even tried out for keeper, but decided that he would much rather play offense that defense if he couldn't be a seeker.

The chaser tryouts were fairly easy, and Harry had, like in the dueling tryouts, blown everyone away by his finesse on a broom. It had suddenly come to Harry that day that his whole life was based around dueling and quittditch and was glad he would get to continue both even while away from home.

By the end of the day Cedric had given him the third spot as chaser, and told him that they were creating a blitz style offense, and looked forward to see how he worked with it. Cedric even told him in private that he may have been the best chaser on the team, but couldn't wait to see how Harry would do under the pressure of a match and a lot of fans.

Harry had awaited this moment desperately, and the next few weeks would pass with little recognition.

****(A/N) Sorry this update is a day late. We had power outages all over the DFW area here in Texas so I was unable to find a place to update. Power is back up though, and I hope to hear from everyone what they thought. The pairing is going to be Susan/Harry/Hannah so please if anyone has any original ideas on how they could be brought together as a three pair let me know! No legacy preservation or life debt non-sense its to over done! Thanks and cheers!****


	8. Halloween

****Chapter 8****

It was Halloween of 1991. Classes were progressing on the usual pace, and Harry for one was glad to be almost done with the day. Today more than normal people were making owl eyes at him, making him feel super uncomfortable. Normally this time of year the Potters stayed out of the public, but with Harry being in school, it wasn't quite possible.

In charms that day, Harry was sitting next to Susan, and Hannah, while the rest of his friends were lined up in rows, instead of the usual desk of three. Today they were going over the levitation charm, Wingadium Leviosa, and to say the class was struggling would be an understatement. Harry and Neville of course had the charm down, but they were having difficulty even trying to help people. This spell was all about the wand movement, and then the correct pronunciation. It was for sure a difficult beginner spell, but other than the two of them Susan, and Hermione were the only ones to establish the spell.

As he was helping his housemates around the room he briefly caught a conversation between Ron Weasley and Hermione, "Its Leviosa, not levyosaw. Come on Ron, your going to poke someone's out eye out with that thing."

"If your so great why don't you show us how it done. Come on!"

Harry couldn't see the girls reaction, but by the wow factor in the room it was clear she had done it tremendously well, as even Professor Flitwick gave her five points for it. Harry turned to grin at the girl as she had clearly done her work well, and then continued to help his housemates until they were at least able to get it off the table.

At the end of class they were all distractedly talking about the charm work they had done, when they heard shouting behind them, "There is no wonder you don't have any friends outside of your house. Always thinking your better than everyone else just because you were born with a golden spoon in your mouth. I'll stick to my own business thanks, and I'd appreciate if you kept you and your stupid bucktooth mouth out of it!"

Hermione suddenly looked like she had been slapped, and Harry started to walk over towards them to confront the red haired idiot, but before he could get over there Hermione had taken off into a run, with some of the Gryffindor's laughing at her back. Seeing the girl running away from him, sparked some flames in Harry's gut, and walked straight over to Ron and struck him in the face, and then shoved him up against the wall, Harry growled, "What the hell is wrong with you? She was just trying to help you, you emotionless prat."

Ron was now penned against the wall, bleeding from his mouth, and the other Gryffindor saw their fellow classmate get smashed, and some drew their wands while the whole first year Hufflepuff drew theirs pointing them at the house of Lions clearly not happy about what had been said to Hermione, "If any of you throw a spell at me, you better knock me out, because if you don't I will retaliate with full force."

This seem to convince the other Gryffindor's to stand down, and suddenly Neville was there, clearly having not seen the confrontation, "Harry what the bloody hell happened is happening here? Why are your housemates pointing their wands at mine?"

Sighing the oldest Potter scion explained what had been said, when Neville whirled around on the boy, "I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt here Ron, Harry let him go."

Harry shook his head slamming the boy against the wall, "You better watch yourself Weasley had you said that to one of my housemates you'd be spending the next month in the Hospital Wing. I will only give you one chance to apologize to Hermione, and if you don't I swear you are going to regret being born."

Harry then spun the boy around and pushed him towards Neville, "Control him Neville or I will."

With that Harry stormed off in the direction that Hermione had gone in. Thankfully Susan, and Hannah were on his heels the whole way, yet still they could not find the bushy haired girl. Harry growled, "That idiot. I can't believe he said that to Hermione who was just trying to help him."

Both girls sensing Harry's ire did not bother to say anything to him just yet, as they checked the last place, the girls bathroom.

Harry sat outside for a few minutes taking a sigh of relief knowing that they must have found Hermione, and was why it was taking them so long. He knew dinner must be well on its way, and he flicked his wrist casting his Patronus to his head of house, "Professor Sprout, we are on the third floor corridor, at the girls bathroom. We have a distraught Hermione Granger with us, and we will be late joining the feast. Susan and Hannah are with me."

With that the blast of the Patronus starting flying down the hallway, and Harry sighed as Hannah came out, "Sue is better at comforting people, she is talking to Hermione inside. The girl is pretty distraught. Mandy must have been sick today, because I didn't see her in class, and I am sure Hermione would like to be with her friend right now."

Harry pondered this for a moment then responded, "Most of the Brocklehurst family was wiped out by the Dark Lord, I wouldn't be surprised if she took the day off, and stayed in their dormitory."

Hannah took that at face value and understood what Harry was saying. The two sat together for a moment, before she said, "That was nice of you to stand up for her Harry. We told her about what you did to Ron, and what you said."

Harry gave the pretty girl a firm look, "I hate bullies. I am glad Neville showed up or no telling what I would've done to the idiot. Had he said that to you, Sue, or Megan I would've kicked his teeth in. Its one thing when guys give each other crap, or even when girls give other girls crap, but a boy should never say words like those to a girl."

Hannah nodded her head in agreement, "I didn't realize you were so protective."

"I grew up with a little sister, and if someone had said that to Rosalie, I am sure we'd be having this conversation is Azkaban." Harry said in good humor.

Hannah seemed to look at the boy in a new light at this. First he saves her life, and now he is defending bullied girls, from persecution. She had always had respect for the boy, but today it had grown exponentially, "That's a very Hufflepuff thing to say. Loyalty to the end Mr. Potter, its an endearing trait."

Harry gave the girl a lopsided grin that was becoming kind of a trademark of his. The girl even blushed, which made Harry take a bit of a sharper notice to the girl. Her pigtails were as always tied behind her back, and her blue eyes were brighter than usual. Her face was also very smooth, with some sharp cheek bones, that were quite appealing in Harry's opinion. Unlike most boys, with Sirius Black as your godfather, one just instantly grew up appreciating the female species.

Before Harry could ponder this thought he heard a low growl. Harry looked straight at Hannah who had gone pale with fear. Whatever was behind him clearly it wasn't good. He spoke softly and quietly, "Get in the restroom Hannah."

Suddenly an ugly sound came from behind him and he screamed, "NOW!"

With a gentle push Harry swooped around pulling out his wand throwing the first hex he could think of, "Defodio!"

The spell flew down the hallway connecting with a fully grown mountain troll. However this spell was barely enough to push the beast back a few feet. Harry swore under his breath as the creature then began charging him, forcing him backwards and on the defensive as the monster slammed his club down in front of him. Only having barely missed the club Harry noticed that where the weapon had collided there was quite a large hole in the ground. This caused the boy to pale, and began flinging curses at it, but it simply wasn't enough as he heard a scream come from in the bathroom. He had hoped the girls would stay quiet, but clearly they were frightened. However then he heard spell fire coming from inside the bathroom, and he knew something else was now going horribly wrong.

Forgetting his first target he stormed into the bathroom noticing a very large spider cornering the girls in the bathroom. Hannah and Susan were standing protectively in front of Hermione both trying to keep the spider back with constant spell fire. Taking only a moment to admire the girls bravery Harry was the only one who knew just the spell for this one, "Arania Exumai!"

This seemed to knock the spider away from the girls, and sent it spiraling into the nearby wall, but it clearly wasn't dead. At this point the troll had followed the boy into the bathroom, and he backed up where he was protecting the three girls from all sides. The spider was even quickly regaining its wits, and seemed focused on his attacker, and not the fully grown troll behind him. The spider was at least four foot tall, making it undoubtedly an Acromantula. Harry called out, "I'm going to clear you all a path, and you need to run to the great hall. Do not stop, do not catch your breath, get to Neville, get to the headmaster and don't even look back no matter what you hear."

He didn't have time to acknowledge the girls, as the spider came towards him, "Bombarda Maxima!"

This was enough to throw the spider back against the wall with absolute force, and even taking part of the wall behind it. He then turned the troll, "Defodio, Expulso, Reducto!"

The three spells impacted the troll hard, and Harry screamed, "Go now!"

The girls immediately took off at Harry's command, and he did his best to follow them. They made it out of the girls bathroom, and to the grand central staircase before they saw another problem, and it was a dementor. Harry went deathly white at the site, screaming at the girls, "Go up! Go up!"

Thankfully the three girls were listening to him unquestioningly as they bolted up the stairs, and Harry was forced to throw up a shield to protect him from the massive troll that was above him. He didn't have much time to contemplate it, but he was sure that something big was going down. Someone was going for the stone.

Now Harry was facing a huge problem. A injured acromantula was now climbing the walls, a troll was trying to bash Harry's face in, while a dementor was now coming towards them to suck their souls. They were dead, plain and simple. He couldn't take all of them, not by himself.

He growled at this line of thought, he would not get his friends killed, not now. His first plan was to get rid of the troll, as it was his main problem, and he could only hope the girls would keep the acromantula back for a little bit. The first spell Harry threw was an expelliarmus, hoping to disarm the troll from his weapon. With the luck of Merlin on his side, the troll lost control of his club and sent it to side, causing it to fall down the grand central staircase. At this Harry watched the club fall and noticed a man in the shadows watching it all take place. He was sure it was Quirrel, and fired a gouging hex at the man, but in the blink of an eye the man was gone.

Turning his attention back to the fifteen foot tall monster, he started hurtling nearly point blank blasting curses. He then heard a scream which turned him desperate. With a prayer he dove forward sticking his wand right at the monster chest screaming, "Confrigno!"

This finally had the desired effect causing the troll to fall backwards clearly dead, if the size of the hole in its chest indicated anything. Turning around he quickly fired his previous spell at the spider, "Arani Exumai!"

This time he pumped a lot of power into the spell completely ending the life of the spider, however when he turned to the dementor it smacked him to the side, causing him to drop his wand completely. It then hovered over him as if it were going to suck out his soul. He could feel the happiness around him being drained from his very soul. He heard the girls screaming from far away, and his lights were starting to go out, when a bright light entered the hallway. Suddenly he had hope, hope to see the next day. A stag was at his side now, touching his horns to the boy, and he knew his mum had come to the Patronus. Only his mum had been able to produce such a powerful creature that he could touch. The dementor was gone, and Harry was staring up at the ceiling blankly, exhausted.

He heard the footsteps coming, but he couldn't move. He was entering a stage of shock, for the second time he had fought dementors and lost. He wanted to cry, but he knew three young girls up there would be depending on him until they felt safe. He started to sit up, and groaned as he did so. Suddenly he was being swept up into our a pair of soft arms though, and he knew his mother had arrived, he spoke softly, "Good timing mum."

She laughed lightly at the sound of his voice, while Harry coughed, "Someone has to stop Quirrel, he was going for the stone."

She told him to be quiet as she spoke, "Severus and Fillius were going after him, and Dumbledore will be right behind them. Its going to be okay, you did beautifully."

Harry sighed trying to find his feet. Lily Potter was going to admonish him, but then she followed his eyes and smiled knowingly at what had to be done. She cast a strong summoning charm and a pack of chocolate was in her hands and she handed it to her son.

The girls who were a flight of stairs above him rushed down to ensure he was okay, while Harry gave the girls an empty smile, "Is anyone physically hurt?"

Professor Potter was standing at full height now projecting authority, "What the devil were you all doing up here? Trolls, Acromantulas, and Dementors, this is insane."

Harry shuddered, while Hermione interjected, "Its my fault Professor. Ron Weasley said some rather foul things to me, and I ran off towards the girls bathroom, when Susan, Hannah, and Harry found me. At first it was just Susan comforting me, then Hannah came in white as a ghost. She told us that Harry was going to keep the troll busy, but then that giant spider came from the other entrance."

The green eyed Potter spoke gently, "I heard someone scream inside, and thought they were just scared, but then I heard spell fire, and knew that there was trouble, so I out maneuvered the troll, and was able to get back into the bathroom. I blasted the spider off, but the troll was in the bathroom now. I backed into the corner to keep them safe, but I knew the first priority was to get them out alive. At that point I hit both creatures with my best shots and we stormed into the hallway, that was when the dementor came a long. I even saw Quirrel at some point, and I tried to throw a gouging hex, but I think I missed him. That was about when you came in mum, spectacular timing by the way."

Lily Potter was not a happy camper, and a much less happy parent. Inwardly she was fuming mad that these things could be happening to her son right under her very nose, but she was also a very proud mother in this moment. There were three girls in front of her right now, all whom would not be here had her son not had the magical training he had. She spoke quickly, "We don't know where the other breaches in the castle are, so we need to get you three to the great hall, and watch out for more dark creatures."

Harry nodded while Susan was reaching out to hand him his wand, "Thank you for saving us Harry. It may seem that the best thing to happen to us was you getting sorted into Hufflepuff."

Harry smiled at the girl as he took his wand from her, twirling it softly, "Well I am nothing more than disgusted with the First Year Gryffindor house. They are the reason that we ended up in this situation, instead of joining our housemates at the feast."

As they made their trek down towards the great hall, Lily Potter had inquired as to what had actually transpired between the boys, and Harry left out no detail in the conflict. By the time they had arrived in the hall Professor Potter was one irate witch. However when they were about to open the doors Harry felt a tingle in his scar, that was a little more painful than the usual prick when Quirrel was around, so when the demon of a man himself opened the doors to greet them Lily and Harry Potter stared at the man in shock. Out of sheer instinct Harry's wand was in his hand prepared to fling curses at the man however he greeted them warmly, "Ah children, Pr-P-Professor P-P-Potter. It is splendid to see you made it back safely."

Harry coughed, "When did you make it back to the great hall Professor? I thought I saw you on the third floor just a few minutes ago."

Quirrel's face darkened, but only for a split second, however Harry caught it, "You must have been mistaken Mr. Potter. I have been in here the whole night. I was tasked with defending the students with Professor Mcconagal and Sprout."

Harry merely nodded his head in acknowledgment, but then found himself confused as he wasn't sure who he saw on the third floor then. Deciding this wasn't important any longer, Harry followed his Puff's over to the house tables inviting Hermione to sit with them, however at the site of her best friend she stormed over to her embracing Mandy Brocklehurst in a big hug. Giving a soft smile at the scene Hannah took Harry's hand and guided him to the house table. When they sat a barrage of questions hit the group, which Harry took silently. Even the girls seemed to be having a bit of post traumatic stress, finally Darrel Abbot made it over to Harry and noticed that he had a bit of blood on him, "Do I even want to know where you three have been?"

Harry spoke clearly, "We had a run in with a troll on the third floor, then an acromantula in the bathroom, and finally a dementor, which was just too much for me. My mum came in at the right time and pushed the dementor away."

The hall had gone silent to listen to Harry's words, and they then erupted into chatter again, while Darrel Abbot sighed, "Things are going to be interesting with you around from now on aren't they Potter?"

Harry gave the boy a sad smile, "At least no one can claim I am boring."

This caused the Puffs to laugh while Ron approached the table, "Listen Harry mate, I am really sorry for what I said earl-"

Harry stopped the boy as he stood up from his seat, "Its not me you should be apologizing to. Despite the fact you almost got me and three of my friends killed with your insolence, it was not me you had originally offended."

Ron turned a bright red, at that pronouncement, particularly the part about almost costing the boy who lived his life. He then turned to the Ravenclaw table and approached it carefully, "Hermione I really am sorry for what I said to you earlier. But if you hadn't been su-"

Before Ron could finish with those words Harry's hand flexed and his wand was shooting a stunner at the red headed idiot, "But before he could a shield appeared before him, and Neville was at the boys side, "I can't let you hex him Harry, no matter how much he may deserve it."

Harry growled, "Have you been listening to this idiot, he didn't even have the proper ability to apologize for sending the girl away crying. Which I will now tell you almost got me and two of my housemates killed. I think a good Hex will do the kid some good."

The Professors were about to intervene when Neville spoke sharply, "He's still a fellow Gryffindor, and I won't let you attack my housemates."

Harry sharply asked back, "So your just willing to let mine get killed over one of your bloody Gryffindor's stupidity."

Neville glared, "That's not what I said."

"Your right its not what you said, its what you implied."

Sighing he responded, "Do we have to do this in public?"

Harry glared, "You could force the little Weasel to apologize, and maybe I could forget that he almost got us all killed."

Ron looked like he was going to protest, but Neville's look silenced him. He then gave a head nod towards Hermione and Ron turned red, "I already tried apologizing to the bloody book worm once, and he didn't want to hear any of it."

Harry growled, "Insult Hermione one more time Ron, and I will hex you and your savior to an oblivion."

Neville stood a little taller pulling his wand out of his holster, "Are you threatening me Potter?"

Glaring Harry responded, "If it sounds like a threat, and then you have to draw your wand for good measure, then Longbottom I think you can consider it a threat."

The Great Hall was in total silence, when Harry glanced over at Quirrel who seemed to be enjoying the verbal volley. Harry grunted, "Watch your back Weasley, this isn't over."

With that Harry took his seat back next to Hannah and Susan who were both glaring at Ron Weasley. Hell half the school was. Neville however was staring at Harry with a bit of shock, and more than a little annoyance. The only Longbottom male had never known Harry to be violent, but this year the boy had been different. Ever since he joined the house of Badgers he had been a little quicker to anger, he wondered for a brief moment if there was something wrong with his Occulmency sheilds, but then dismissed it as nothing could take his shields apart, at least nothing short of a blast from Dumbledore or Snape. Neville walked back over to his table with Ron, clearly ready to blast the boy to pieces, as he kept almost getting killed by his best friend. The tall boy knew that if it truly came down to having to pick, he would take Harry, but he still wanted to show his house some loyalty and protection, especially since so many looked up to him.

Harry on the other hand was fuming on the inside. He couldn't believe the nerve on Ron, and then Neville getting in between the two. He was also surprised to see that none of the teachers got involved, even though all were clearly watching. There were only four teachers in the hallway, but at least Mcconagal was always notorious for being protective of her lions. It is possible that she agreed with Harry, and thought Ron needed to be hexed, but he doubted it. He wasn't really that mad at Neville, but he was infuriated that Ron would say such hurtful things, and then try to find away out of apologizing by placing partial blame on the girl.

Harry was interrupted from his thoughts by Darrel Abbot who took his sisters seat next to him whispering quietly, "Well Potter I don't think we are going to be able to avoid two life debts that our family now owes you."

Harry groaned, "Great, and by that technicality Susan and Hermione owes me one as well."

Darrel patted the young man on the shoulder, "Just Susan, with Hermione being a muggleborn and you being the future Lord Potter, you will easily be able to absolve that one, but listen you are starting to turn some heads, and not necessarily in the good way. I have been watching some of the Slytherin's and I think some of them may be having a plan to go at you. You need to be careful. We have a Dueling Tournament next weekend, and we have Quittditch this Saturday. I will be doing my best to watch your back, but you need to be careful."

Harry nodded his head whispering his thanks to Darrel as the headmaster came into the room looking grave, but not even remotely tired, "The problem has been taken care of, and the grounds have been swept. There is no intruder, and the creatures that came in have been taken care of, and removed. I think it safe for all of you to return to your common rooms, and I wish you all a good night."

Harry was one of the first ones out of his seat, with the girls right behind him. They quickly made it back to the common room, where Harry went straight inside the boys dormitory and went to the bathroom and turned the water on, and locked the door with a locking ward. He then began to cry as the water hit him. He couldn't keep up with these near death experiences, or maybe one of them wouldn't be so near. The pressure of being the chosen one was now truly weighing on the boy for the first time.

Something Harry couldn't understand as he lay in the hot water that was rinsing over his stressed body. If Quirrel had been in the hall all this time, then who had Harry almost cursed, was that a figment of fear he noticed in the presence of a dementor, or did he really see someone down there. Were there more enemies than Quirrel he had to be aware of? What should he do next? Perhaps most importantly he also asked, what does Dumbledore know.

****(A/N) The Sunday update is on time! Pretty eventful chapter, and the next few will take place over the span over two to three weeks. One will include conversations between the Bones, Abbots, and Potters, another will be quittditch, and the last chapter I just wrote will take place over the dueling tournament. So stay tuned and please review! Our review count has been really low, but I really like writing this story, so please help me out here!****

****PS Dark Lords Rising fans. Sorry about the lack of updates, but as some pointed out I had hit a bit of a block, so I have been planning out his third year before I do anything to ruin a good story. Expect the update Tuesday or at the latest Wednesday night. Thanks and Cheers!****


	9. The Start of an Alliance

****Chapter 9****

The first quittditch match of the season was sneaking up on all of Hogwarts. Hufflepuff vs. Ravenclaw were starting a rivalry week with the quittditch match shot gunning the start. The rest of the week would show the houses competing for points and of course it all would lead up to the dueling match up. The houses were excited and Halloween had been forgotten by most people.

Most people of course was a relative term. All the people in Harry's life had not forgotten about Halloween, but at least most of the school had. Lord Abbot had once again made an appearance at the school the following day, and demanded that they all sat down and watched the pensieve memory together.

This led to the headmaster, his head of house, both of his parents, Susan's aunt, and both of Hannah's parents and brother, in the headmasters office the following afternoon.

Dumbledore opened up the events with carefully spoken words, "Given the fact that the people present in this room are upstanding members of our government and community, I would ask that for the sake of each of your families you allow this event to dissipate without involving the media or the aurors."

It was clear this message had been pointed towards Amelia Bones, but the women merely glared at the old man, "We will just have to wait and see the severity of the situation Dumbledore. My niece has been under your protection for all of two months and between herself and her best friend they have nearly died a total of three times. The actions I will take with my department will be entirely determined through the content of Mr. Potters memories."

Dumbledore nodded in understanding while James put his hands on his oldest son's shoulders in an attempt to relax the clearly nervous young man. Professor Sprout spoke gently, "Amelia, from what Mr. Potter has told me of the events it is rather unlikely your department will not be involved. I would like to give a fair warning to all those that enter this memory, that if only a fraction of what Mr. Potter has told me is true, then we may all need to take a seat and talk this out before further action is taken."

With a general consensus taken Dumbledore motioned for Harry to come forward and deposit the memory into the pensieve. Instead of having everyone gather around the bowl, Dumbledore placed a small rune set against the magical artifact which allowed an image to project just above the bowl.

The memory started with Hermione trying to help Ron in charms class. As Harry glanced around the room he noticed the adults were all very fixated on the events even the Headmaster. Harry also noted that Susan and Hannah were trying to look anywhere but the pensieve.

The memory was then forged on to the point where the class was dismissed, and Susan, Hannah, and Harry were talking about inconsequential things, when the argument across the hall broke out. The women in the room looked disgusted with the red haired git, while the adults including the headmaster were merely shaking their heads. The headmaster especially knew that some Muggleborn students came in and were bullied due to their intelligence. Not just because they were smarter individuals, but because they were better students having come from a six year primary school already.

Lily Potter for one was preparing to storm out of the office and give Ron Weasley a piece of her mind, after watching the poor muggleborn girl run away in tears. To Lily Potter this was a little to close to home. While James and Sirius always protected her anything more than words, she to had been subjected to some hurtful words from students in the other houses.

After Harry told Dumbledore they could skip the next thirty minutes of searching the memory was adjusted to the part where the group had approached the girls bathroom. Hannah smiled at Harry as she heard his explanation to why he had become so angry, while the other females also gave the younger man some admiring looks. His father squeezed his shoulders in pride as he listened to the younger man. He also looked a little concerned, but only because he knew that something bad was about to happen.

When Hannah paled in the memory the blonde girl close by to him paled as well. This led to Harry grabbing the girls hand gently and giving her a sad reassuring smile. This move did not go unnoticed by any other adult in the room.

As they watched the battle for Harry's life Lily Potter had to turn around while James merely watched in fear and awe as his son handled himself in such a grave situation. When the scream was heard from the bathroom the whole room groaned realizing either the dementor or the acromantula had appeared. Harry had easily made work of the acromantula but the whole adult contingent was surprised when the spider got back up. James even whispered, "That's not possible."

Harry took a look of confusion as to why all the adults were thinking the spell he used was such a big deal. Hagrid taught it to him when they were out hunting in the dark forest years ago. It was only a second year spell, so it wasn't exactly advanced magic especially compared to some of the other magic he had performed in the memory. The memory played on to the point where Harry fought the battle on two fronts and managed to get the girls out of the bathroom. The group seemed to be in celebration thinking this would be where professor Potter stepped in, but that was not the case as the Demenetor was now clearly seen in Harry's memory. As Harry watched the memory and saw himself fire a gouging hex at nothing he realized the dementor had just created a conjuration of fear, and nothing more. The rest of the adults seem to realize this as well, while Susan and Hannah had stopped watching at this point.

When the troll and spider were defeated the room gasped when the dementor back handed Harry causing him to drop his wand, and fling to the ground. When the stag entered the scene the memory ended and the group all took a deep breath understanding had Lily Potter arrived any later Harry at the very least he would have been kissed, and the others put in uncontrollable harms way.

The Headmaster then spoke with confidence, "I suppose a bit of truth is required on my part in this situation. Harry and I have been training together for four years now, and he is quite skilled with a wand. With his family magic being from the Potter side his aptitude for combat magic is stronger than anyone since Charlus Potter. James while you are undoubtedly a powerful young wizard, your son will one day pass you, and I hope you can take that as any proud parent would. The reason I am coming fourth with this is that I do not wish for Harry to be isolated due to his rather unusual power base."

Amelia Bones took a seat putting a hand to her head, "My niece was moments away from being killed by a troll, and then eaten by an acromantula. Dumbledore you better have an explanation beyond Mr. Potter's extraordinary use of magic under stressful situations."

Dumbledore and Harry locked eyes for a brief moment, and Dumbledore spoke, "The dementor was not real, it was a boggart that had detected so much fear it appeared to our young students. Harry has been attacked by a dementor before so that is of course his worse fear, being fear itself. The troll was being brought into as protection, but our potions professor lost control of it. The theory was that while all the students were in the great hall we would successfully and safely bring in the large creature, but when something suddenly enraged the beast it knocked out Severus Snape on the third floor corridor. This of course just so happened to correlate with where the children were at the time. The acromantula however is your best guest will be as good as mine. It likely climbed the building from the outside and found a way in. It is my belief that it was sheer bad luck and unfortunate circumstances that fell upon our first year students."

Some of this was news to Harry. Snape had been knocked out by the troll? Was that why he was limping at breakfast? Or had the man been cursed in the back? One certainly seemed more likely than the other, as Harry knew that Severus Snape had been one of the most proficient duelers in all of Britain. The Dementor was a boggart? Harry had felt the boggarts dementor form many times before and that was certainly not a boggart. Just what was Dumbledore playing at. It was clear by the look he had originally given the young man that he wanted him to stay quiet, but why?

Amelia looked at the old man, then to Lord and Lady Abbot, "Are you believing any of this?"

Lord Abbot shook his head, "That seems like too to many coincidences Dumbledore. My daughters broom has been hexed, and Heir Potter was forced to save her. Now she is attacked by a troll, an acromantula, and a boggart, I feel that something more is going on here, even if all that has been said is true, and I am not so convinced that it is."

Darrel Abbot though spoke up for the first time, "Regardless of how any of us feel about the situation though Harry has now saved the life of my sister twice, and I don't honestly care what led to this happening only that it happened. The Ancient House of Abbot should be demanding that we can in some establish a way to pay back House Potter's Heir."

Thankful that the subject had been changed Dumbledore took his best grandfather impersonation, "Tempers are rather hot right now. Though it is hard to blame you, as your children are supposed to be safe here while at school, I ask that everyone please just be patient with me. The staff and I are doing everything we can to prevent another accident from happening, but the fact of the matter is, the acromantula and the boggart incident are going to happen. An Acromantula colony is just inside the forbidden forest and unless we are willing to sacrifice a hundred lives then attempting to eradicate this problem would be futile. Boggarts can be found in just about every pureblood home around the world, the best solution I can offer there it to teach the lesson to our younger students and hope we can prevent something like this from happening again. The troll problem I can assure you however will not happen again. The fact that all three of these events took place simultaneously is not only unheard of, but also extremely unlikely to ever happen again. The odds of it happening once is blinding, twice would simply be an omen."

The adults seemed to mostly acknowledge what Dumbledore had said, and when he put it that way even Harry could tell that he had made some good points, "While I agree with Mr. Abbot on the fact that Harry should be rewarded, I don't think the life debt would be the best way to approach this matter."

Lord Abbot clearly was annoyed with Dumbledore as he wasn't going to be able to take any real action against the things responsible for this freak accident he spoke sharply, "House Abbot and Bones will decide what the best course of action is Headmaster, I ask that you allow us to deliberate before you offer further council."

Dumbledore however was not going to be talked down in his own school or office, "Lord Abbot I will remind you that while you are in my office I am still headmaster and in charge of these three students unless you wish to withdraw them. I will also remind you that while you may be the head of your house, I am still chief Warlock and have the right to intervene and inquire about any and all multiple house related matters."

The temperature in the room had clearly dropped, and Lord Abbot seemed to realize his faux pas, "Of course headmaster."

Fawkes gave a slight soothing trill which seemed to calm the room down a bit, while Madame Bones spoke, "It is acknowledged by house Bones, that our noble house owes House Potter a life debt. We can offer you money, property, or even a marriage contract if that is what it will take to make our houses even again."

Lord Abbot spoke, "It is also acknowledged by House Abbot, that our noble house owes House Potter two life debts. Something now must be decided Lord Potter, there is to much on the line here at this point."

James and Lily exchanged glances while Harry was struck with some inspiration, "Headmaster. With Madame Bones here today, perhaps there is something that we can ask of these people. I ask for your permission though to reveal it. I know what your thoughts on the matter are, but here could be a chance to start preparations for the next step. If we get things in motion now we could have a better chance years later."

Lily and James instantly lit up at the idea, but they to knew the dire situation that there son may have just created. Dumbledore and Harry locked eyes, and they seemed to exchanged thoughts through active legillmency which allowed a decision to be made, "Lord Abbot, Lady Bones, I fear the information Harry wishes to give you is what I would consider state secrets. Your son and daughters would need to be able to perform Occulemency before we informed them of any impending information."

Amelia Bones answered, "Due to the number of people coming in and out of my home as well as information, Susan is already quite adept at the art."

Lord Abbot nodded, "Our family were natural mind healers for many centuries, where the Potters were given the affinity for Battle Magic, ours was mind defense and assault. Our grimorie states that all Abbots entering Hogwarts must be at least at an apprentice level of Occulmency before they enter school. Hannah is proficient enough that it would take a full assault to break her for information."

Dumbledore seemed to be grave at those words, "The level of secrecy must be kept. The less people that know of the prophesy the better."

Lady Abbot spoke up for the first time, "A Prophesy? Rubbish all of them are. Divination is at best an educated guess of the future."

Lily Potter however countered, "I worked with the unspeakables after Hogwarts for quite some time. I can assure you Lady Abbot that not only are some prophesies real, they are always fulfilled if a true seer was the one to predict it. Whether they are self-fulfilling or not is certainly debatable, but they always find a way to happen. I have seen it first hand. The scar on my son's forehead is living proof that the Dark Lord believed in the prophesy that Dumbledore speaks of."

Dumbledore gave the women a slight nod as he spoke, "It started in early October of 1981. A young women was applying for a job interview for the divination professor here at Hogwarts. Before I could dismiss her she gave what I believed to be her first true prophesy. It went like so, '"__The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies."__

The room went dead silent, and the adults seemed to stare at Harry with a mixture of horror and pity. Dumbledore continued through the silence, "Only two young men in our world could have fit that prophesy. Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom. Alice and Frank had evaded the Dark Lord three times, and Lily and James had not only defied, but nearly defeated the Dark Lord twice, and was forced to evade another. This left us with a huge question, who do we protect? James and Lily went into hiding, and Frank along with Alice and there son did as well. On Halloween of 1981, the Dark Lord picked his target and attempted to prevent the prophesy from coming true. The rest is history."

Amelia was the first to attack, "There are some rather large holes in your story Headmaster. One being the Dark Lord is dead. Two being how did the Dark Lord even know about this prophesy?"

Dumbledore spoke sadly, "The Dark Lord is not dead. A body was never found, but he was temporarily repelled, but it won't last forever. As to how the Dark Lord found out, we cannot to this day say."

Harry knew that wasn't true. He had been told the truth by his father one day after he attempted to ended his Occulmency lessons between him and Severus. Harry however spoke with his mother and they came to an understanding on the matter. Harry never brought it up to the headmaster or his potions master. Amelia growled, "You allowed the whole world to believe he was gone, yet you told no one?"

Dumbledore held his hands up in peace, "It has been ten years since the death eaters have attacked in the open. If they were aware their master would one day return, war would never have left the streets of Britain"

James trying to console the people in the room added, "I know you all remember what it was like. Most of our families were wiped out during this time. Jackson I know you lost your parents and your sister, Amelia your husband and your sister. I almost lost it all though. My own life, my wifes, my son, both my parents, most of my friends, I was happy to let everyone believe that the threat was gone. We knew it would be years before the Dark Lord could return, and in this time we had hoped to destabilize the death eater movement, and take away its momentum. If you can look me in the eyes and say we didn't do the right thing then I will humbly apologize and face any legal consequences you can come up with."

Harry knew this was a power play made by his father, and a very smart one at that. Making the matter personal and showing just how much everyone had lost last time, was an effective way to get people off their case about the matter. This time Harry spoke, "A Life Debt to me would be useless, as would it be to our family. If you sign a marriage contract you might as well sign the death warrants on your daughters certificates and have them notarize final wills and testaments, because when the Dark Lord returns his wrath is going to fall on the Potter family. I have trained day in and day out for the past four years. Even more so for the past two since I found out about the prophesy. This isn't a game, nor is it a laughing matter. The Death Eaters are quiet now, and trying to build themselves up for bigger things, but once they realize the Dark Lord known as Voldemort is not gone they will all rally back more powerful than ever. My proposal and reason why I wanted you all to know this was because it can now be time to prepare. If the head of the DMLE started quietly raising up her auror reserves perhaps between the two life debts that would have been paid to me can be used to fund the endeavor. I have spent my whole life growing up with politics, and I can think of a lot of lives we could save if we started preparing the light faction for part two of this war, because hopefully by then I will have reached my majority and peak of power, and will be ready to combat death eaters."

Amelia Bones interjected, "It is not your responsibility to take on the Death Eater problem Mr. Potter!"

Harry sharply spat back, "Nor was it my responsibility to get rid of him last time. I can guaranteed that when he returns he is going to come straight for me since I costed him ten plus years of assaults. I am offering a solution to help take the fight to him when he returns. Both families now owe me a life debt, and I don't want to take the traditional path and get both your daughters killed. If House Bones and House Abbot want to survive the next part of this war then action must be taken now."

James looked at his son with pride. Padfoot and himself had raised his son to be a political genius, but they weren't out of the woods yet, "My son is speaking the truth. It is one thing to be allied to house Potter, but if one your girls were to marry into our family it would certainly cause a target painted on their heads. If any of these three grow older and fall in love its an entirely different matter, but to put their lives in jeopardy for the sake of tradition and legal matters is not something House Potter can support."

Lord Jackson Abbot sighed, "He is right Amelia. If everything they are saying is true then we owe it to the Potters to at least draw the lines. I will gladly make a large contribution to the auror force."

James Potter took up the throne to, "I will gladly match anything Lord Abbot throws in. Harry is certainly right that if we bulk up the auror force now then perhaps we have a better chance when the Dark Lord is trying to reassert his power."

Dumbledore sat back with a smile and a proud look going toward the youngest man in the room, "I have never seen a young man such as Harry driven by such ambition. I truly believe that with time, and proper training he will be ready to help combat the Dark Lords forces, but I must say it is imperative that the information that was disclosed today be kept a secret until the time is right."

Amelia and Jackson exchanged looks before nodding, "Alright Dumbledore. We will play it your way for now. But there are still a lot of questions I would like answered. I wasn't sorted into Hufflepuff without reason. If a friend of my house is in trouble, especially one we owe a life debt to, I will be glad to help. Especially if it is to see the true end of the death eater movement."

Lady Abbot smiled at her long time friend, "Well said Ami."

Susan spoke softly, "If you-know-who really is going to return shouldn't we receive training to?"

All eyes went on to the now blushing red haired girl. Hannah to interjected though, "If our friend is going to be in trouble or danger than I want to help to."

Lily smiled at the conviction behind the two girls, but Harry was the one to speak, "Training for something like this isn't easy. In fact its sometimes nearly impossible. The only thing that keeps me going is the fact that one day a death eater may point there wand at my family, and I will not just sit there and let it happen."

Darrel Abbot spoke for all of them, "This isn't a matter of what is easy Harry, its a matter of whats right. Had you been in my year and had we been friends in Hufflepuff together I would be following you out to training every morning. Hearing that the Dark Lord is coming back may lead me to do so anyways. You saved my sisters life. I know that if I had done the same for you there is nothing I could have said or done that would have prevented you from helping me. Regardless of what is decided I am with you Harry. I owe it to you, and to my family to be able to protect them. I wish we could tell some of the other Hufflepuffs but I respect the privileged information we have been given, but there may come a time when you may want to let some others in on this. I know people like Cedric who lost his mom in the first war would gladly step up beside you, if you were known to be training to fight You-know-who."

Harry privately thought that he may be approaching his quittditch captain about the matter one day, but today was not going to be that day, "Thank you Darrel. I really appreciate that."

The young man nodded while Susan spoke, "Then its settled, Harry we will begin training with you, or doing whatever it takes to prepare ourselves."

Amelia Bones spoke quickly however, "I don't know if I feel comfortable with you training to fight Death Eaters Susan."

"Auntie, I am not training to fight them and neither is Harry. Not really. We are training in order to be prepared to fight them when they come looking for us. In the last war both my parents were killed by those monsters, and we would all be foolish to think they won't come back to finish job if their master was beside them."

Dumbledore smiled widely, "Well said Ms. Bones, well said."

Professor Sprout seemed to be wiping at her eyes having remained quiet for most of the morning, "I am not the best with my wand Mr. Potter, but if you or your training partners are ever to need anything, whether that be spell work, or advice, a Hufflepuff such as myself would be glad and determined to help you in any way I can."

Dumbledore and Harry exchanged looks for the last time that day. They knew that Harry's gamble had paid off, and hopefully new battle lines were going to be drawn by what they had done here. Part of Harry would wish that he hadn't dragged his friend into something he considered his fight. But later the Wizarding World would rejoice that the young man had such powerful allies when the fight would be coming to their streets.

****(A/N) Next chapter is the quittditch match! Please review, and if we get a decent number I will update Wednesday! Lets go for 25! Otherwise look out for next Sunday! Cheers!****


	10. The FNG's

****For prevalent Story line sake, Halloweeen was on a Thursday, the last chapter took place on a Friday, and this chapter will take place Saturday (Quidditch match), Sunday (Dueling Training), and the rest of the week leading up to the dueling match. Cheers, and enjoy!****

****Chapter 10****

"The Quaffle is up...And the game begins!"

Harry zooming down the field beside Malcolm Preece a sixth year, and Heidi Macavoy a fourth year was one of the most exhilarating things of Harry's young life. The quaffle was being thrown around between the three so fast that Ravenclaw chasers were having a hard time keeping up, especially with Harry on his Nimbus 2000. Heidi scored a goal on the first possession and Harry was chasing Ravenclaw captain Rodger Davies down with everything he had to prevent the older fourth year boy from taking a shot at the goal. Harry was able to intercept a pass intended for Davies, and toss it down to Preece who took an alarmingly quick shot at the Ravenclaw goal post, leaving Keeper Grant Page in utter awe of the chasers prowess.

After about twenty minutes of fast play Hufflepuff was destroying their Ravenclaw rival 90 to 30. Diggory was doing well in the air, keeping the pretty second year Cho Chang distracted by constantly waving at her, while he also swept in and disrupted chaser play which gave Harry and Heidi a chance to wreak havok on Grant Page.

Somewhere around the thirty minute mark the chasers were told by their captain to blitz the offense when Anthony Rickett, a Hufflepuff beater, knocked one of the Ravenclaw chasers out of the game leaving it to a two man defense, with Cho Chang attempting to help out as much as Cedric was on defense. This led to an influx of goals, 9 of which were eventually scored by Harry. Leaving Heidi and Malcolm to score 12 in between them. The score was 40 to 210, that was before Cedric swept into the snitches position ending the game 360 to 40.

The ground was suddenly a blur of yellow and black as the badger house stormed the field with excitement. They all knew this would be likely there second easiest game behind Slytherin, Gryffindor was after the all with some only real talent, specifically with Oliver Wood on there team. However those thoughts were pushed to the back of their heads as the quidditch team embraced. Now Harry wasn't very flirtatious, but when a girl like Heidi Macavoy hugs you like that, you have to at least make a comment, "So all I have to do is score 9 goals and I get hug from a blonde beauty? Should I set make a goal of this?"

This boys all laughed and Heidi merely shrugged, "If you manage to score nine goals against Oliver Wood in a few weeks I'll give you more than a hug Potter!"

This led to some cheering among the boys as a Hufflepuff chant went up threw the grounds, and the house of badgers were on a hot streak, with a slaughter house to start the season.

Diggory spoke with his team briefly in the locker room before they all went upstairs, "That was a good win today. Potter for your first game you played beautifully, actually managing to outscore both your senior chasers, and helping us secure a win even without catching the snitch is always ideal. It takes all the pressure off me, and leaves us for clean wins. That was the perfect effort out there guys. I look forward to our game against Slytherin and Gryffindor even more now, and I am sure we can be putting that quidditch cup in Professor Sprouts Office this June! Now lets go celebrate, but bring it in first. Badgers Fight?!"

And the team called back, "TO WIN!"

The team left in a moment of cheers as the words of their battle cry echoed the locker room. The battle cry however was still echoing and being chanted in the common room when the seven players stepped through to a deafening chant. It would rotate around Diggory, then Macavoy, then Potter, and even Preece, the stars of the game. The beaters and keeper were also pounded on the back in approval as the team was all handed a butter beer and the older players even had some fire whiskey. Harry agreed to do one shot with his whole team in celebration in victory, however when he did he thought he might cry. This led to some laughter and him getting slapped on the back by the boys.

As he went to join his first year friends he was welcomed into the group as a hero. Susan and Hannah just about mugged him with hugs, and even Megan Jones was ecstatic for the group. Justin and Ernie slapped hands with the boy and they all went and took up spots in the corner to watch their housemates party like it was going out of style.

The party went on through most of the afternoon and the house elves brought dinner into the common room since most of the students were likely to drunk to make it to dinner, while others didn't want to ruin the party atmosphere. Harry however went down a little early claiming exhaustion and a need to get up early the next morning.

Darrel who was one of the Hufflepuff beaters agreed and soon followed the advise of the first year chaser and made it to bed himself.

The following morning three sleepy faces awaited him at 6:00AM as he was preparing to make it out towards the door. It was surprising to see Hannah, Darrel, and Susan awake at this hour, especially on a Sunday. Sunday was the one day a week Neville didn't even join the boy as to him it was the day off where they would relax and do basically nothing except maybe catch up on homework. Harry was used to working out a lone on Sunday, but it appeared that was going to change, "You lot look dead. You might want to take a pick me up potion if you are going to follow me outside."

Darrel being the older boy, and clearly more proud grinned, "I don't need a pick me up to keep up with you Potter!"

Harry shrugged, "If you guys start to fall behind, or can't go on, meet me at the Black Lake, that is where part two starts."

The others all held determined looks however and followed Harry outside the common room where the barrels shifted aside for them to exit. Harry broke into a slow jog, slower than usual to allow his housemates to keep up with him. When they hit the grounds the fresh air seemed to wake the group, and they were all able to speed up a bit. Harry was surprised the group made it a mile, but shortly after Susan and Hannah stopped and dropped to the ground. Both boys stopped to see if they were okay, but both just waved them ahead, and the boys shrugged and continued on. After another ten minutes Harry could tell Darrel was really struggling to keep paste. It was a Sunday so Harry decided he would have mercy on the boy who was probably a little hung over, and sore from yesterday and went down to the black lake. When they arrived Darrel dropped into the sand staring off into the sky heaving for breath. Harry however just went to his knees as the girls approached. Harry heard Susan ask, "What next?"

But Harry was trying to find his focus, and even his breathing. After he accomplished that he opened his eyes to see Hannah and Susan in a matching position as him, while Darrel was just beginning so sit up, clearly exhausted. Harry spoke first, "You guys did good for your first day. Darrel, that was some amazing strength to make it through the whole run. I was very surprised, and inspired. I could tell you wanted to stop more than anything, and its admirable that you held on. Hannah, Susan, you guys don't have quidditch to keep you guys in shape. The fact that you all made it over a mile is actually rather impressive. I would suggest you guys start with an every other, to every third day coming out with me, and slowly work your way up. You will want your core to rebuild and over time you will be able to do it everyday like I do."

Everyone nodded at that, while Darrel seemed determined to help his player on the dueling team in any way he could. Susan and Hannah shared the determination, but from what Harry could tell were different reasons. Harry then spoke, "Since you are all familiar with Occulmency these drills Professor Snape taught me should be a little easier on you. Close your eyes and find your center. Drop your shields and allow your magic to flow to your hands as if you are preparing to cast a spell."

Harry felt the sand shake as he concentrated on the sound of his own voice, "Now push your magic out. Don't think about a spell or wand movement, just think about how peaceful your mind is. Or do like I do and focus on the water that is coming onto the shore. Project your magic around you, and feel it become one with your mind, area, and body."

The heir to the Potter family could feel the magic around him. He was sure most of it was coming off Darrel, but he could also feel a more feminine touch to magic, like when his mom was with him. He knew that was probably Susan's as he could almost feel her touch in the magic. Hannah's was the quietest, but it was also the most consistent. As if she were softly singing at the same tone constantly, without raising her voice, or even saying words, but simply humming a fine tune. He could distinctly tell there were three magical presences, and after a few minutes he was sure he could distinguish each one.

Opening his eyes the green eyed boy looked at his three friends who all appeared to be on other worlds. Harry then jumped to his feet with cat like reflexes speaking softly, "Open your eyes and draw your wands. Darrel if you would talk your sister through summoning the basic protego charm, I will do the same for Susan."

Darrel nodded doing his best to tell his sister the theory and wand movement behind the shield charm while Harry started with Susan, "Okay Susan. Lets try something different. Watch me produce my shield."

Harry did the basic incantation and a shield that was different from normal appeared in front of him, this shield did appear more solid, but it was much smaller than usual. Susan noticed and asked, "Why is your shield different? Yours is normally blue and from head to toe. This one only covers shoulder to shoulder and waste to neck, and also red."

Harry explained, "The wand motion I did was a little more precise, while if I do the full motion its a head to toe shield, but first I want you to build the basic shield first. Do the wand motion first with this."

Harry transfigured a small rock onto the ground into a stick and handed it to the red head, softly taking her wand from her for a few moments. After a few tries she had the circular motion down, and then he had her add the words in. He could feel pulls in her magic, and briefly wondered if one day she may have an affinity in wandless magic. He handed the red head back her wand, and told her, "Now perform the shield charm."

The first time merely a whisp of silver came from her wand, but after three tries she created something that looked slightly more solid. Harry applauded the girl with a smile, and this time said, "Now I am going to fire a stinging hex at you, and I want you to block it."

Susan nodded with determination, and when Harry flicked his wrist a red spark flew towards Susan, and she brought up her shield just in time to catch the hex, however it did instantly make the shield collapse. Susan clapped up and down excitedly and embraced her friend tightly.

Looking over to the other two, Darrel had adopted Harry's teaching method and now had Hannah throwing curses at him, while he was preparing her to deflect a returning curse. Harry turned his attention back to the lovely Ms. Bones saying, "Okay, now that was a pretty weak stinging hex, I am going to throw a bit stronger tickling charm at you, and I want you to dodge the first, and block the second okay?"

Susan grimaced, but shook her head in agreement. When the first spell came at her she basically dove out of the way, while she had little time to block the next charm, and was soon was laughing out loud. Quickly Harry removed the charm, and told her to try again. It took them several turns, while Harry eventually had to show her, that a dodge didn't have to be so drastic, but a mere shift of the body. He had her throw five charms and hexes at him, trying to hit him, but after being unable to, Harry felt she had a better understanding of it. She then got hit by the first charm a few times, but after the fourth try she managed to dodge and shield perfectly, and even managed to dodge a third surprise charm, and fire back while Harry called out, "Fantastic Susan!"

Harry then called out to Darrel, "Lets switch, and see if either of us missed anything."

Darrel nodded, clearly hoping to try something different soon, which Harry understood and was willing to oblige. Hannah was now in front of him as he asked her to trade spells with him for a moment. Her shield was little weaker than Susan's, but like her magical aura it was more consistent, which made the accuracy a little better with each charm and hex they traded. After her shield collapsed Harry called time, and told the girls to trade spells, while Darrel and him did a drill, "Now I switch it up every practice. Since the girls did shields we will to. Next time we can teach each other spells and practice real dueling. But right now I just want you to throw up your best shields and hold me off for as long as possible. Professor Dumbledore taught me that the best way to strengthen your shield is a lot like strengthening your muscles, just keep casting and keep casting, and keep stretching it a bit further, and eventually it will be a little easier...I will attack first."

Darrel nodded taking his place across from him. Harry then started spitting stunners, and blasters at the boy at rapid speeds. Lucky for Darrel he had already placed the shield up, and when Harry called out to change shields after thirty seconds to a more solid object, the boy barely had time to do so as now clumps of sand and rock were ricocheting off the young mans shield. After another solid thirty seconds Darrel was weakening and Harry called to switch back to the regular protego charm and they finished at about 1:15 seconds.

Harry was pretty impressed, but was also unable to compare the fifth years strengths and weaknesses as he had never worked with someone only a little older than himself. Harry then took his turn, and Darrel began smashing his shields with blasters, and such. They switched shields every thirty seconds, but after nearly two and a half minutes Darrel realized he may never have beaten Harry in that duel the other day had he not thrown that shield breaker. And since that would kind of defeat the purpose of this exercise he was nearly unable to break the shield. At three minutes Harry called time.

He was clearly tired, but was also clearly ready to take more, "This is the goal. We make it to three minutes...both of us. Then from there at two minutes we add a second caster, and at four minutes all three people will be casting at the shielder. Dumbledore said the true goal is to last five minutes. At that point you change it up until you basically have all three casting at you for five minutes. Even in Dumbledores prime he said he could only do that for a few years, but that is our goal."

Darrel nodded patting Harry on the back, "This is a good work out. By the end of the year I think I may be able to beat Tonks if we keep going like this all the time. She is thinking about being an auror. Maybe after a few months we should invite her out here. Tell her we are just training our dueling prospects, and stuff."

Harry thinking that was actually a pretty good idea, agreed and wrapped up the work out, "That is all were going to do for today. I say if you guys are up to it meet back out here Tuesday, if not then Wednesday. We will definitely take off Friday and Saturday for the dueling tournament, but other than that we can resume a pretty normal schedule after this week. I am sure Neville will be glad to have someone like Darrel to match up against, and someone like Hannah and Susan to give him a chance at winning."

This gave the group some laughter as they all trudged back towards the castle. The girls were sweating, but were casting freshening up charms, while the boys were simply drenched and happy about it.

Being a Sunday morning the castle was still mostly a sleep at 8:00Am. So the group went to shower, and agreed they would eat breakfast in the Great Hall together.

It took only about thirty minutes for Harry to be waiting down in the common room with Darrel Abbot, while the girls were still getting ready the two talked, "I really admire what your trying to do Harry. In your shoes I am not sure I could do the same."

Before Harry commented back he flicked his wand outwards shooting a spell softly around them telling Darrel, "Its a privacy ward. This just leaves us free to talk."

Darrel nodded while adding, "See its stuff like that. Its cool that you can do such advanced magic at your age, but I can't even imagine how much work it took to accomplish such magic with an underdeveloped core. I learned wards when I was in fourth year at home. I know they teach wards in Hogwarts if you take Runes, but I was considered accomplished as a fourth year to do it, because they don't teach it until sixth year."

Harry sighed. He knew telling his friend and student mentor the truth would probably be a lot easier then the lies he usually told everyone else, "Can I be truthful with you Darrel? Meaning, can I trust that you won't say anything to anyone else about what I say?"

Darrel grinned, "I promise anything you tell me behind a privacy ward I won't tell anyone else. Is this another state secret?"

Harry chuckled, but even Darrel could tell it was forced, "No. Its more of a personal secret. I'll start by asking is there anything you wouldn't do for your sister?"

Recognizing the severity of the question Darrel straightened up, "I would die for my sister. Unquestionably."

Harry smiled lightly, "A true Hufflepuff's conviction. Standing in my shoes I think you would do the same thing then. Now imagine this. You know your going to die for your sister, but you have years before its going to happen. Now if your lucky you'll save her life, and maybe even the rest of your family to. If you have a miracle and maybe the God that my mother grew up worshiping is real, then maybe you might survive to. If your unlucky though, your going to die...no matter what. If your really unlucky you'll die, and so will everyone you love. But now you have a golden opportunity, a sort of time machine to go back and fix it all. To train and strive to change the course of history. No matter what it took, would you take it?"

Darrel's heart sunk listening to the young man. He recognized what Harry was saying. If he was lucky maybe the Dark Lord would rise in twenty years from now, and he would be in his prime and be ready to tackle the monster with everything he had. Even then it would take some luck to walk out alive, and even more so to see his whole family walk away. But by chance maybe he only had a few years, and he was unlucky, everyone he knew would perish. The young mans heart broke at his young friends situation, "I would do whatever it took. I would sacrifice it all to see my family safe."

Harry nodded, "I would to. If my family would let me, I would. My mum and dad though want me to live a normal life though. So I play quidditch. I duel for hobby sometimes. I study inventive magic, and wards, for fun. I make friends, I try to live my life as much as I can. But above all else I train. Because I want Rosalie, and Jack, and the Potter family to survive. I want us all to move on, but above all else I want those two to live a happy and long life. That would mean the world to me. And I am willing to give up my own world to see there's be a happier place."

Darrel sighed placing a hand on the young man's shoulder, "No matter what anyone says Harry, you are a Hufflepuff, through and through. More so than anyone else in this house. I've never had such inspiring or such loyal words coming from anyone. I will do whatever it may take me to do, to ensure you are able to give that world to your siblings, and have that miracle we were just talking about happen. Because then with some luck we will both be alive to see our families grow. That is something worth fighting for Harry. Don't ever lose your conviction, because that's a beautiful ambition. If I hadn't heard you say it, I would've never believed it came out of an eleven year olds mouth either."

This made both boys chuckle, while Harry thanked the oldest Abbot scion. Around this time Harry noticed the girls come down the stairs and were clearly ready for breakfast. It was nearly nine AM, and the boys had been talking for nearly a half hour, and all were clearly hungry as Harry took down the ward and wiped a tear out of his eye. If either girl noticed they didn't say anything.

Breakfast came and went, while Harry even was given a chance to hug him mum, in privacy mind you, and search out his best friend.

It took a little while to find Neville, but when he did, he was a little scared, "Neville, are you alright?"

Neville was staring down the third floor corridor in confusion and clear fear, "Something isn't right."

Harry stepped beside his friend putting a hand on his shoulder, "What isn't right? Why are you looking down this corridor Neville, did you see something? Quirrel?"

Neville shook his head, "I don't know. I was heading back to Gryffindor tower, when I felt this presence. It was so powerful I just stopped and stared. I didn't see or hear anything, I just felt it. Harry something really powerful is lurking around the castle. I can feel it, and I think its effecting all of us in different ways."

Harry shrugged his shoulders a bit, "I haven't felt anything, but I'll definitely keep my wits up. Maybe I have just been so distracted I've missed it."

Neville merely stared for a moment longer then walked away, "So you've had a busy few days. Are you okay?"

Silently relieved his friend still cared he nodded, "Yeah. I wish we had been fighting together, and playing quidditch together, but other than that, you know I am not to bad."

Neville winced, "I am sorry you had to go through all that. I should've followed after you when you tossed Ron, but I was surprised by your anger I was just shell shocked."

"You didn't miss much. Almost getting killed by three different dark creatures isn't what I would call a fun Thursday night!" Harry joked.

Neville sighed, "But had we faced it together it would've almost been easy. I watched the memory in Dumbledore's office. He told me what happened between the Abbots and Bones, and I think its brilliant. I even talked to mum about it last night, and she really respects Madame Bones, so I think that was a good move. Dumbledore wasn't sure if we were on speaking terms, but wanted me to know what was going on. I was thankful and didn't complain, but I realized that you could've died and it would've been my and Ron Weasley's arrogance that had gotten you killed."

Harry was slightly shocked and stopped for a moment, "How do you figure that?"

Neville turned to face Harry, but looked around first, then responded, "That troll couldn't have withstood both of our onslaught. After four spells or just maybe our first two that thing would've gone down. From there the Acromantula wouldn't have stood a chance against five of us. Even if we didn't know the anti spider charm. Which I still don't know how that monster survived the first strike. Then that Dementor would've easily fallen under our combined patronus. Separate its not that strong, but together we could easily have repelled a single dementor. All three against you though, while your having to defend the three girls as well, that was to much to ask anyone. You were lucky, and I am really really thankful for it. I don't know if I could've lived with myself."

Harry brought his best friend in a tight hug, "Were brothers Neville. Were going to get mad at each other every once and a while. That's just what family does. Next time will face the danger together, and it won't stand a chance. This was more like a freak accident than anything."

Neville nodded, "Your right. I just wish someone was going to be there to watch your back with some power in Hufflepuff."

Harry seeing the opportunity pounced on it, "Actually Darrel, Susan, and Hannah all wanted to start training with us. I gave them a little pre-run today and think they have some pretty good potential. They are going to start just 2-3 times a week maybe less starting out, but they wanted to get on the train. Are you okay with that?"

Neville shrugged, "Abbot's the dueling captain, he could probably teach us a few things, while we could return the favor. The girls I am not so sure about."

Harry added, "They are going to be with me a lot though, and if your not around I need someone to watch my back."

Seeing his point Neville nodded, "I think I need to convince one my housemates to join up sometime soon. I'll need someone to do the same for me eventually."

Willing to compromise Harry encouraged that, "Find someone and bring them in. We can do that pretty much whenever, that way you won't be surrounded by badgers to!"

Neville smiled and clapped his brother in all but blood on the back, "Sounds good man. I got some studying to do with Katie Bell, so I will catch up with you at dinner alright?"

Harry grinned, glad to be back on his best friends good side, "Rodger that! I'll see you tonight!"

****(A/N) That ends this chapter. The dueling tournament will take up most of the next chapter, and mirror of erised, will lead us right up to the Christmas holiday. I hope everyone is okay with Darrel being the kind of mentor in Harry's life. I wanted Tonks, but her only being there for one year kind of ruined that. I plan to bring her in after the holidays and have them all train together. The group isn't going to grow and be massive, but there will be a pretty good number (Under 10) training with them at some point. Hannah and Susan won't be entering any kind of relationship with Harry until the end of second year, but there will be glimpses and stuff until then. On another side note the quittditch players mentioned in the match were all pulled off the Wiki so they are all real characters, the only OC I have created are the Potter siblings, and Darrel Abbot. Cheers!****


	11. Dueling Rivalry

****Chapter 11****

The dueling team was sitting in the Hufflepuff common room going over some final preparations, while Darrel was in his element, "Now Ravenclaw may not have the best quittditch team, but in the past they have had an admirable dueling team. One that is usually always first or second. There spell variety in the older years is whats generally the killer, so remember if you don' recognize it, dodge it. The line up for today is going to be seeds 2,4,6,8,10,12 , meaning, myself, Diggory, Macavoy, Preece, Applebee, and Potter will be taking up arms today. Harry you are going to have the honor of opening up the tournament with a victory. Now lets all head to the Great Hall as a unit, PUFFS FIGHT?"

And the team called back, "TO WIN!"

This led to the dueling team leading the way to the great hall with the rest of the house following shortly behind the team. Harry was a little nervous opening up the tournament for his house, mostly because he knew as it was there were already going to be a lot of eyes on him, and now he was going to start the show.

Arriving in the great hall it was clear the Ravenclaws had been there for quite some time, as they were all exchanging simple stinging hexes and the like to warm up a bit, and their uniforms were admittedly cooler than the badgers yellow and black. Harry did humbly think that the name Potter did look pretty good on his black and yellow uniform though. The uniform consisted of a tuck in shirt, with your seed number and last name on the back, and some pants that were your houses alternate color, for Hufflepuff thankfully that was black. Harry thought that Neville's Gryffindor gold look ridiculous as pants, and the Slytherin silver didn't look much better. Ravenclaw had the superior looking jerseys in Harry's opinion, black and blue, were pretty easy to manipulate. The eagle on the front of their jerseys' however didn't look near as cool as the Hufflepuff badger the young Potter thought.

All trivial thoughts of uniform went out the window though as Harry saw Remus, Lily, James, Sirius, Jack, and Rosalie sitting in the stands waving up at him. The heir to the Potter line smiled up at his family, as they took to the opposite side of the dueling platform, that was a long solid mantle. From what Tonks had told him this was the Jr. standard for dueling, while the adult standard of dueling had a circular ring. Harry thought the straight line would actually require more skill, but then again he wasn't a dueling pro just yet, so he kept his opinion to himself.

Dumbledore stood in the middle of the ring giving encouraging smiles to all the students present when he called out, "With both teams here the match will be under way soon. Today's match up is Ravenclaw Vs. Hufflepuff. I will be today's judge, and will be happy to watch such promising young duelist attempt to gain glory among their peers, and attempt to take home the dueling gauntlet!"

Harry had yet to see the dueling gauntlet, but from what he was told it was a lot like the quittditch cup, only bigger. Tamsin Applebee and Harry exchanged spells for few minutes in attempt to warm up. Applebee was one of those free spirit types that Harry had taking a friendly interest in. The girl was in third year, and she had a mean streak a mile wide when it came to dueling. The brunette however was kind outside of dueling practice and was often seen helping Muggleborns as she herself came from the muggle world.

Dumbledore after some time called the match to a start announcing, "Both twelfth or eleventh seed duelist please enter the dueling pitch."

Harry looked across to see a third year boy stepping on to the platform clearly excited that he was going to get his first match up against a first year, however being a Ravenclaw meant that you never underestimated your enemies as that would be disastrously unwise. Dumbledore's voice carried throughout the great hall as he called match proceedings, "Mr. Potter, Mr. Stretton, face each other, bow."

Both boys gave each other a low respectful bow, but Harry had a feeling it was more because he was the boy who lived, than the fact that he was his opponents dueler. Something that Harry could tell by looking at the starstruck boy in the eyes. When they reached the other side of the pitch, the cheering suddenly stopped, while Dumbledore counted down, "3...2...1...Begin!"

Harry immediately let his instincts cut in, and took a fake step forward throwing his arm out towards his opponent as if he was going to cast something powerful, but when the young man stepped back to throw up a shield nothing came, but that forced him onto the defensive. With two stunners followed by an over powered disarming charm, the boy was put out of the duel before he could cast a single spell. This led to an eruption from the Hufflepuff section, and Harry received a motion from his captain that signaled he wanted to have words with him before they continued. Before this happened though Harry went over to his opponent helping him up and shaking his hand, "Good luck in your next duel mate."

Micheal Stretton was many things, but arrogant or mean was not one of them, "I would wish you the same, but its against my house, so I will have to pass on that. Good charm work, maybe next time!"

Harry smiled at the boy then walked over to his captain while the audience applauded his good sportsmanship. Darrel kept a very serious look on his face, but when he started speaking he could hear the excitement, "Well done Harry. You already did your job. Anything you can win after this, is a going to be just a pat on the back. If we all eliminate one dueler, we win every time. Do what you can, but don't over tax yourself, so the team can get in their and win this thing."

Harry nodded as he stepped back into the pitch to see Marietta Edgecombe step into the slot. Dumbledore called the pleasantries, and introductions, and as they bowed Harry knew the dueling level caliber just went up a notch. The ninth seed dueler was only a year above him, but age was nothing but a number. As they pointed wands at each other, she did not even wait for Dumbledore to say begin, the moment the number one came out of his mouth a spell was fired, " Reducto!"

Quickly scrambling out of the way it was clear that this Ravenclaw was not going to make the same mistake as her housemate. The girl was fast and she sent a barrage of blasting hexes at him attempting to blast him off the platform, but after dodging the first two curses, Harry threw up his full shield, which caused his dueling captain to explode with cheering, while the rest of his housemates just applauded, clearly confused why their captain was so excited. After a full minute of Harry's shield not even moving Marietta clearly appeared tired, and when Harry dropped his shield, the next spell came so fast, she rose her shield, but magical exhaustion had clearly come over her, and broke her shield and took her to the ground. The dueling captain Rodger Davies was on the platform reviving his team mate clearly looking furious at the first year who was usurping his lower tier duelers. This time Harry merely bowed to his opponent, as not wanting to approach the clearly irate Ravenclaw quittditch and dueling captain. The girl appeared disgruntled, but gave the boy a nod of respect and acknowledgment.

When Harry went over to his captain Darrel pounded him on the back, "Two wins in your first match, very impressive Potter. You scrape one more win, and I think Rodger Davies will be the only one that can stand up to three or four duelers. You are doing great, just keep your head in it, and eliminate as much as you can. Rodger won't go down easy, and I'd prefer Cedric and Heidi to get a few shots at him before I have to."

Harry nodded his head in understanding and turned to face the rather large fourth year Keeper, Grant Page. Knowing this was going to be an aggressive fight, as Grant already really disliked Harry for making him look so bad in the quittditch match. The keeper was the number seven seed in this duel, and Harry being at number twelve made this look slightly unmatched, but Harry kept his nerve, knowing he would need it in this fight against the older boy. When Dumbledore counted down Harry began smiling as he remembered a lesson that the head of Ravenclaw house had taught him while growing up. He could clearly hear the words of the tiny half-goblin, 'Death Eaters especially have a tendency to be overly aggressive. If you find yourself in a one on one fight, don't be to defensive, they may just over power you at the beginning and leave you no chance to come back from it. Strike hard and fast.'

With those words ringing through his ears the second Dumbledore counted them off Harry took a sprint forward break rolling under the first curse and then barraging the boy with quick and various blasters. Grant was obviously taken a back by the sudden aggression from the dueler who had kept his cool in the past two matches, put up shield after shield, but when Harry was suddenly sending out silent freeze charms, and stupefy he knew the match was lost. When Harry came within five feet of the boy he blasted a shield breaker, then followed it with the Perificus Totalus silent cast, which left the boy completely immobile. In a quick display of pure brilliant tactics Harry disarmed his opponent and waited for Dumbledore to call it. It only took a moment for the beaming headmaster to do so, and Harry unfroze the boy and handed him back his wand wishing him look in his next match.

Looking out to the stands Harry could tell his family felt ten foot tall at that moment. With a dueling protegee and quittditch extraordinaire they knew they had an heir and son to be proud of. James himself looked like he was on cloud nine, despite looking slightly uncomfortable when he walked in wearing badger colors. At that moment the young man felt like he could've convinced his dad to wear any colors except maybe green and silver, and he would've remained at his ten foot height!

Darrel was bouncing on his toes when Harry made it over to him, "That was a hell of a tactic Potter. The fifth seed dueler is a fifth year though, if you can win this one, count your lucky cards, because that leaves five of our duelers to beat two of their duelers. Robert Hillard is a speed demon, but if you hit him with your chain spell your golden. You take him then all there is left is Clearwater, and Davies. I still can't believe they have her at third seed, but hey your doing fantastic. If you can't beat Robert don't take it hard, but the chain Harry, the chain, should work!"

Cedric was standing next to Rodger and gave a last bit of advise very quietly, "Hillard's father was a death eater Harry, be careful he may be crafty."

Harry looked across the pitch to see a young man standing their with his hands crossed behind his back and no wand in site. Taking a steady breath of determination Harry trudged forward to take on the OWL student. When the bowing took place Hillard barely inclined his head which made Harry feel a sudden hatred towards the boy.

When they reached the other end of the platform Harry took a final deep breath and when the countdown was over for the first time in many years neither opponent moved. Some people seemed to be waiting with baited breath as the two stood off towards each other. Neither threw a spell, but both stared at each other in a attacking position. Harry who could feel the tension in the room brinking so started off the fight with an immediate shield breaker, but the curse sailed towards the boy, and he merely flicked his wand and the spell came firing back at him, causing Harry to spin out of the way and see many spells coming at him at with rapid fire. Harry threw up the standard protego, but it was instantly broken, and the fire charm was also coming straight at him causing him to reverse the effects with augimentai. At that moment he realized his opponent had yet to say a word. His dueling was completely silent.

The water turned solid as the heat over came the element and this allowed Hillard to banish the solid rock towards Harry causing the boy to yelp as he was forced to blast it with an exploding hex. This sent rock shards everywhere, and Harry was on the ropes once again by the boy who would not stop flinging the stunning spell at him. Finally Harry stopped defending and began to dodge while he threw two spells at nearby rocks causing them to turn animate and fly towards the dueler. Realizing to late what Harry had done, Hillard attempted to destroy the rock creatures, but by the time he had done so, Harry was half way through his five chain spell, "Reducto, stupefy, deprimo, expelliarmus, incarcerous!"

It was one of the fastest chains Harry had ever thrown, but that only seemed to make it more effective, because by the last curse his opponent had lost his wand and was effectively tied up. The Hufflepuff stands erupted into cheers. Harry however was just staring at the boy who was giving him a look that could kill. He couldn't understand the aggression, but when the ropes were taken off of him he stormed over to the boy, "You cheated!"

Darrel Abbot was at his side in a moment, "And how exactly is that? I didn't see any illegal moves made by Potter, or I am sure Dumbledore would've called it out!"

Hillard growled, "He is under some type of strengthening solution or something, no first year is that powerful! Much less know how to shield and transfigure like what he just did."

Rodger Davies was heading there way with a few other students from the team, when Cedric stood protectively in front of Harry, "Just because a first year beat you Hillard doesn't mean you can accuse him of cheating. He made this team, and couldn't have been under those potion effects every practice. The only reason Tonks and Abbot didn't make him a higher seed is because he is a first year!"

Hillard took a threatening step forward, but before he could his captain gripped his arm, "Go sit back down Hillard, that will be Potter's last victory. He is going up against Clearwater next."

Robert Hillard spat, "I hope Penelope puts that kid in the hospital wing."

It was clear the Hufflepuffs had heard what he said, but the other teachers had not, but Darrel drew his wand and was getting ready to curse the boy, but Harry stopped him, "If you curse him we may have to surrender. I am still in this fight with Clearwater, so lets stick it to them by putting a victory in our columns."

Darrel nodded his head and glared at the boys back as he went back to the side where Tonks was putting a comforting arm on his shoulder. Harry however looked over at the pretty fifth year prefect knowing he was in trouble. Flitwick had told him he had a charms protege in his house, and heard that she was almost the first fourth year prefect in a hundred years. The only reason she wasn't given the status was because she was a muggleborn. Instantly having respect for her, the green eyed young man was also weary of her reputed skill.

Before Harry knew it Dumbledore was counting down, and Harry was taking deep breaths. He had already taken out four duelers, if he can at least wear out Penelope then maybe even the tenth seed Hufflepuff could finish her off. It was with these thoughts Harry blitzed his opponent. Penelope did have some speed behind her blocking, but real skill was in spell variation. She was constantly using a shield Harry had never seen before causing the spells to bounce right back at him, which made spit firing stunners a little harder. Her spell work was also mostly silent, but the shield she kept using was said out loud, but he couldn't get a good enunciation. She also kept firing a jet of water, which unlike aguamentai, it was more solid, and coming in a much faster jet. He recognized the charm his mother used on him once or twice, and it was the Aqua Erecto charm. He wasn't sure how to perform it, but he also wasn't sure how to counter it either, which was proving to be a problem. She used incendio even a few times to try and get him out of the match, but it was clear that Harry was simply to fast, but quickly exhausting. Penelope however had not dueled four opponents before Harry, and dueling someone with such skill and speed was actually quite refreshing to the girl.

The two duelist had gradually been getting closer, and Harry was getting ready to take advantage of it. Just as he was about to get off the expulso jinx he found himself flying through the air. The crowd gasped, and he even thought he might have heard someone scream, but as he was coming down he shot the Arresto Momentum charm, and was stunned about three feet above the ground.

Awaking he felt a slight crimson taste in his mouth, and Cedric a long with Darrel were hovering over him, "Alright Harry?"

Groaning Harry got up and the audience cheered, while professor Flitwick was berating his student for such a reckless tactic. Seeing trouble Harry walked over to the girl offering her hand, "Alate Ascendare? I've never heard of it being used in a duel before. It was a pleasure Ms. Clearwater, I hope we can to duel again next year."

Carefully she took the boys hand, "I'm sorry Potter, I was on the ropes. I don't even know why that spells came to mind. You dueled very well today. I do hope we can duel each other again for practice. Had you not dueled four other opponents before me, perhaps things would have been different."

Taking it all in stride Harry began to walk back towards the side lines where Madame Pomfrey was waiting on him, "I'm fine Poppy!"

The women rolled her eyes, "You would be bleeding to death right in front me, and say you were fine Mr. Potter. Just let me run a check on you!"

Harry ignored the women as he joked to Tamsin, "I softened her up for ya! Go finish her off."

Tamsin gulped as Dumbledore called her last name, and she walked onto the platform and took her position. Chancing a glance at his parents, the Potters were clearly thrilled about their sons performance, and now they were pulling for his house to take a victory, which thrilled the heir to the family.

Tamsin came out swinging against Penelope, but after the prefect spun around and began firing back the duel was brought quickly to a close.

Harry watched Malcolm stand up and flex his muscles and take the stage. Between quittditch and dueling he was pretty well built, and the young man thought he would be a good match against Penelope. He was quickly proven right, as they had the longest duel of the day, where he eventually ended up over powering the girl with blasters. Malcolm look pretty tired, but when fourth year and captain Rodger Davies took the floor he straightened up. Harry saw Darrel call him over, and when they broke from their huddle Malcolm took a determined look. When Dumbledore counted them off Rodger was quickly able to prove why he was the dueling captain. With a blasting hex so powerful part of the stand came up, Malcolm was thrown backwards off the platform. Dumbledore instantly called it, and Madame Pomfrey was with the sixth year Hufflepuff in a moment. Darrel glared speaking more to himself than to his team, "I hope I get a chance at this pretty boy. Wipe that smug grin right off his face."

Heidi took the boys hand to calm him and gave it a reassuring squeeze as her name was called up to the platform. Harry heard his captain encourage her, "His spells are over powered, its why he is such a good duelist. Keep up your dodge game and wear him down. If you can sneak a spell in there and finish him off great, but Cedric and I will take him down. Just go out there and do your best."

Heidi gave the two finger salute and with a smile stepped up to the fourth year Ravenclaw boy. Something Harry quickly realized was that the boy was a good dueler. His spells weren't just over powered, but he also had a sense of grace when he was dueling. Heidi and he were dancing more than they were dueling. Something that would eventually undo the boy, but she stood strong against him. Everyone could tell it was wearing on her, but since most of the dueling was silent casting the Hufflepuffs cheered her on. With a well placed cutting curse she actually managed to cut the boy, which Harry thought would end the match, but it only proved to send Rodger into a rage. Clearly the good looking boy took it personally when she slightly disfigured his face, and sent a powerful barrage of curses straight at her. One included a bone breaker that connected with her hand, which forced her to drop her wand and get stunned. Her scream of pain was still heard by all though when she was hit with that hex.

Cedric growled, "I'm going to make him bleed."

Harry wouldn't recognize it right away, but later he would figure out that the two older boys had liked the pretty blonde as more than just a friend, however at the time he was just surprised to see Cedric wish anyone ill will. When he jumped onto the platform, spectators could tell there was a sharp rise in tension between the two teams. The Hufflepuff contingent was booing as there prefect was hexed with such an awful curse, but Cedric seemed to be in a zone of anger. He exchanged words with his captain quickly, "I'll try to leave a few pieces of you to blast at, but no promises that he is going to make it to you on the next duel."

Darrel nodded, and continued to glare at his rival seeker, "Do what it takes, but be careful. That is a nasty hex that I would've expected from a Slytherin, not a Ravenclaw. We clearly underestimated his tenacity. I'm glad you weren't able to pull it off against Clearwater Potter, if he had done that to you, I think there might have been an uprising."

This led to some snickering, but Cedric came to an even face as he clutched his captain and friends hand. Harry watched the boy march toward the isle, and when Dumbledore called for them to bow, neither did. Harry felt the tension in the air continue to rise, and when the duel began it was ferocious. The two dueled like demons, and as the fight raged on the young man seemed to notice that Rodger was starting to throw darker curses. Nothing illegal, but certainly they were darker in origin. He recognized the bone breaker a few times, an exploding hex, the gouging curse, the piercing hex, and even something that looked suspiciously like the arrow shooting hex, that the Appleby Arrows use at their games. Deep down the boy questioned if dueling like this was really proper in a school function, but since Dumbledore nor any of the other teachers have objected yet, he figured they must not have rules set up against something like this.

Cedric was fighting like a man straight out of hell, but it simply wasn't enough. He couldn't get anything through, while Rodger was beginning to hit with cutting curses, and even the piercing hex in the shoulder, but Diggory was just not going to go quietly. At some point both duelers stopped heaving for breath, but it finally came to an end when Cedric knocked Rodger down with the knock back jinx, and proceeded to banish him off of the platform! This led to an eruption of cheering on the Hufflepuff contingent, and the crowd itself had applauded a spectacular duel. Everyone seemed to note however that things between the two were a bit more personal than what met the eye. Both fought with serious ferocity, and it was clear no respect was shared between the two as neither bowed or offered congratulations on a duel well fought.

Darrel merely shook his head at the bad sportsmanship displayed by his counterpart captain, and shook hands with most of the Ravenclaw duelers, especially Penelope Clearwater who was a good sport about losing, as she had done the best on her team.

Hufflepuffs could now say something that had probably not been said in many years. One they had the best quittditch and dueling record in the school. Two they were ahead on house points by a significant margin, and it was only continuing to grow. And three they easily have the highest prospect aspect since Dumbledore or The Dark Lord himself. This left some pride in the air as the Hufflepuffs congratulated there housemates on two astounding victories in just under a week.

After his house had given him some breathing room, he saw a red missile coming straight at him, and the only thing he could do was brace himself for the impacting hug, "Harry you did awesome! You handled some of those older kids like they were nothing!"

Harry bent down to her level saying, "If you just keep training with Moony then when you get to Hogwarts you'll be able to do the same. Battle magic runs through our veins Rosalie!"

Jack agreed, "Almost every Potter is a dueling beast. Grandpa Charlus, dad, Harry, and were next Rosalie!"

Harry smiled at his siblings embracing both of them in a group hug saying, "I celebrated with my team last time. Let me go to the common room, talk with my captain, change, then we can all go get something to eat. Thanks for coming guys."

Before the young man could head off his dad caught him on the shoulder, "You did good today son. I am glad to see your training so hard has paid off."

Harry's dad embraced him, but he felt something go into his pocket, and gave a look of acknowledgment to his godfather who had made the slip with his fathers help. He then hugged his mother and followed his captain back to the common room. Cedric and Rodger stood up at the front, with Rodger speaking excitedly, "Were doing great guys. Lets keep up the hard work, and prepare for our match against Slytherin. Everyone grab a butterbeer and just hang loose, that was a great win, and I intend to see five more coming our way! Badgers fight?"

And the whole house roared, "TO WIN!"

Harry was all smiles as he walked towards his group of friends, but before he made it he opened his pocket to read the parchment, it was a simple message that gave a clear warning, "__Watch your back around Hillard and Davies."__

Harry seemed to look towards the common room door as he began to head out, and only felt a little trepidation until he met up with his family and Neville who congratulated him on a spectacular showing and win.

****(A/N) So I don't know if the last chapter was just awful or something, but six reviews kind of hurt my feelings lol. I have a pretty fair number of followers, and favorites, and I ask that you guys show me some this week, and maybe I will post on Wednesday to return the love :)! Otherwise next Sunday Chapter 12 of the Badgers Champion will commence! Cheers, and thanks for reading!****


	12. A Dragon and A Price

****Chapter 12****

The holidays approached the students of Hogwarts with an unusually quick turn. Midterms were being given out to students as they were preparing to visit home for the holidays. Harry himself received many invitations to visit friends over the two week period, but he intended to spend most of his days with his siblings, and his extended family.

He had honestly been struggling in school, and in his training. He could tell the others were beginning to worry, but he wasn't honestly sure what was wrong. He had gone through phases of not being able to sleep before, and it had never affected him like this. He couldn't quite understand where the base of the problem was, but he hoped he could fix it over the holidays.

With the strain on his mind, he took it easy a little more during the evenings, and it was during this he realized that he wasn't very close to his first year male housemates. They seemed to hang out with Harry inside the classroom, but there was no connection between the boys, and he wasn't really sure how to change that. Deciding that he would gift each boy something over the holidays, and make a promise to himself that at some point he would become a little closer to his dorm room mates.

The last night before the term was out he was taking a late run on the grounds when he saw the smoke stacks coming from Hagrid's hut. Deciding that his friend was due for a visit he ran over to the hut and politely knocked on the door. At first he heard the man's panicked voice, "Just a minute!"

Harry thought it odd for Hagrid to be panicking, but waited patiently for the door to be open. Eventually the half-giant opened the door greeting his young friend by stepping out of his home, "'Ello Harry. What are you up to on this cold Winter night? Isn't a little late for a first year to be out on the grounds by himself?"

Looking around Harry questioned, "Hagrid its only 5:30. The sun may be setting, but its still rather early. Is it a bad time?"

Glancing back at the hut it was clear the game keeper was nervous about something, but didn't voice his concern, "It uh-"

Before Hagrid could answer the door to his hut opened and Neville was standing there, "Merlin Harry, good timing. Have you come to help with the dragon?"

The green eyes seemed to widen significantly as the half-giant groaned in exasperation, "Come on in. Lets get you out of the cold."

As Harry came through the door he saw the usual conundrum that was Hagrid's home. A major difference however was the broken egg on the table with the cheerful baby creature hopping around on both legs near Ron Weasley. Harry and Ron weren't exactly on the best of terms, but they had improved over the past month, at least beyond the point where Harry was going to smite the emotionless git, "That's a Norwegian Ridgeback isn't it? My grandpa Charlus had all kinds of books over Dragons in the Potter library, and Remus helped me through a couple of them."

Hagrid beamed, "Right you are Harry. This is Norbert!"

Harry approached the creature cautiously as the book had warned him, and gently stroke the creatures head as he attempted to nibble on his fingers, "Hagrid Dragons are illegal to own in England. You have to send her to a reserve, or if the ministry finds out she could be put down!"

All three asked at once, "She?"

Harry rolled his eyes, "Hagrid as much as you like magical creatures I am surprised you couldn't tell the difference. Especially if you were going to harbor one. Its all in the spots. Girls have horizontal shaped spots, while boys if they have any are vertical."

Hagrid voiced an objection, "Well I figured after Fluffy there were few pets out there I couldn't handle?"

Ron and Neville exchanged nervous looks while the oldest Potter scion questioned, "Fluffy?"

"I shouldn't have told you that." Hagrid whined.

Neville came to his rescue however saying, "Its a Cerberus on the third floor corridor. Its what protecting you know what."

At first Harry took a knowing look, but then gasped, "A Cerberus? Have the professors lost their minds? There are nearly two hundred children in this school, and if that monster were to get out he would eat at least fifty before we could bring it down. They are nearly invincible!"

Hagrid waved the young boy off his rant, "Cadswallop, Fluffy can be tamed with just a bit of music. Its how we keep him asleep on the third floor."

Knowing there was no point in arguing with the stubborn half-giant Harry went back to his original argument, "Hagrid you still need to give up the baby dragon. I understand you would be devastated if something were to happen to this poor creature. I would hate to see you have to go through that, and I bet if you were to get in touch with Dragon Handlers, then they would even let you come visit the girl."

Ron added, "I could talk to Charlie over the break, and when we come back he will probably be able to set up some type of extraction for the dragon. He wouldn't ask questions, and would be glad to help."

Harry put a comforting hand on the massive shoulder of the man as he took a seat with a defeated look, "Do you want to put Dumbledore in hot water over this Hagrid? If another student came by and heard or saw the dragon they could go to the authorities then Dumbledore would be forced to defend you, and we both know he would. We could prevent a catastrophe...I didn't know Charlie had become a dragon handler Ron. I figured he would go pro into the quidditch leagues."

Ron took a like of immense pride, "Charlie didn't think that was really useful for his daredevil talents. He wanted something a bit more dangerous, it drives mum mad!"

In understanding Harry grimaced at what his mother would say if he decided to go be a dragon handler in another country. Neville putting the boys back on track continued the good fight, "We will handle whatever extraction Charlie can get for us Hagrid. We don't want to see you get in trouble over this. Maybe you could even go to Dumbledore before it gets out of hand, and he can set something up."

Harry shook his head, "Plausible deniability. Give Dumbledore that. If he knew a dragon was being harbored in his school that could only make things worse. Give him the humble choice of being ignorant on the matter. Trust me on this one."

After a general consensus Hagrid ended up agreeing with the three first years, and sent them on their way, in hope to spend some good time with his dragon while the castle would be empty over the next two weeks.

Harry ended up telling his friends good night rather early as he knew he had a certain professor that needed visiting. Something that Neville had said was really bothering him, and he wanted to see if there was a problem with his mental shields.

As he knocked on the dungeon room doors, he waited a few moments before he heard a silky voice, "Enter."

Harry opened the door to see the professor buried behind a daily prophet, "Ah good evening Mr. Potter. What pleasure do I have of getting a visit so late from a first year badger?"

Harry could feel the man's sarcasm lacing in each word, but he also knew that somethings would never change, as he closed the door behind him, "Actually professor I could use your help with something."

Professor Snape closed his news paper and laid it on his desk with a patient look on his face, "If you are coming to me then I would assume it is something serious. Is this the case Mr. Potter?"

Harry nodded approaching the man's desk, "It could be professor. You see I have been having problems controlling my emotions, and have been quick to anger recently. I'm not sure what's causing it, but I haven't thrown a fit or even really been angry since you taught me Occulmency. That only leaves me to believe that somehow my shields have been damaged. I'm not sure how this would have happened, as I have been meditating and training, just as you instructed me to do. Not even once have I broken my habits, so I am a bit concerned. No one has penetrated my mind either, which is what __Mind Magicks__ mentioned as a possibility for the problem, but I was able to rule that out."

Snape looked thoughtful as he stood up drawing his wand slowly, "Allow me to take a look? Not to worry, this won't be an attack, just a probe."

Harry nodded as he felt Snape cast the point blank spell at his skull. His world went dark for what felt like hours, and he could feel Snape's magic moving around the shells of shields, as if they were inspecting a fine piece of art or something as difficult as rocket science. When he felt the presence leave he opened his eyes, and Snape looked interested, "Your shields have been fractured. They all seem to be standing, but it is clear that they have been damaged."

Snape motioned the chair across from him as he swept back into his potions lab. Harry took a stressed seat, now truly worried that Neville had been right about something dark happening within the school. A few minutes later Snape took a seat in his desk, "Before I give you this Mr. Potter I would like to warn you that if you have lied to me about doing your mental exercises this potion will hurt you immensely. If you have been truthful, and you truly are ignorant to what is causing this damage to your shields then, it should help rebuild them over the holidays. I merely ask that you keep your magical core high, as it may be dangerous to dip below normal levels on this potion. I will be over on Christmas Night as your mother has invited me for dinner. I will check your shields again, and see if the potion is doing its job. Now let us discuss some theories behind what could be the problem. Would you like to start us off?"

Harry nodded, having done this kind of teaching with the potions Master before, "Well sir, I will say that I never had this problem until I entered Hogwarts. I use my magic more here then I ever did home, but that doesn't seem like that would be the cause of my shields cracking. I thought it may be the stress of Halloween, but if that was the case my shields would have rebuilt by now from all the meditation exercises I do. Honestly until Neville pointed out that I had been off, I hadn't really realized it. He said that it was almost like he could sense a dark presence and that if was affecting me and others in ways we weren't realizing it. But I know Hannah Abbot and Susan Bones have mind shields, and they haven't mentioned any problems. So honestly Professor I am at a bit of a loss."

Professor Snape seemed to acknowledge the boy for a few moments before giving the last thing he expected, a compliment, "Mr. Potter ever since your admirable actions on Halloween it has been clear that something has gone amiss within the castle. I do believe Mr. Longbottom may be the on the right path to our question. Unfortunately I do not believe we have a easy solution to the problem. I myself have been aware of the dark magic that is currently residing in the school, as is the headmaster, however we are not sure where it is coming from. You know we expected that fool, but I do not believe him capable of casting such a shadow on Hogwarts most powerful students. You see Mr. Potter I to have been affected, but being a master of my art I have not had any noticeable problems. The headmaster is of the same caliber, however I believe with your core size, and your shield size you are taking a heavy hit from the influence of dark magic."

Harry was quick to beg, "What can I do to stop it Professor? I would like to think I have proven to you that weakness is not something I wish to tolerate from myself."

The potions master raised his eyebrows at the boys outburst, "That you have Mr. Potter. In a fit of honesty I will say there is not much we can do. Assuming our assumptions are correct the potion will help rebuild your core and your shields to maximum efficiency. Time away from the castle will also do you some good. Upon your return I will check your shields once a week, and if they get as delicate as they are now, then we will put you back on the potion. If you hear of your classmates having similar problems you will direct them to me, for aid."

Harry took a downcast look, "Why is it that you and Professor Dumbledore can deflect the effects, but not me Professor?"

Snape gave the boy a gentle scolding, "While I do find you a very powerful eleven year old Mr. Potter, I am surprised your arrogance exceeds you in the comparison between the headmaster and I, to yourself."

Harry's jaw dropped as he looked back up at the Professor, "Not at all sir. I meant no offense to your skills sir. I have seen them to much first hand to doubt that. But I just don't understand why I am so effected, while you and the headmaster are not?"

The potions master rebuttled, "It is not a matter of weakness Potter, it is a matter of experience. Only people with the larger cores are going to be affected. Your core is immense in comparison to the growth of your body, which makes your magic at times disproportionate. If you were older I doubt you would even notice the looming dark magic. However since you have never been truly exposed to it since you were struck by the killing curse, I believe your core is reacting poorly due to remembering the darkest of magic. In time the darkness will pass, and should it ever return, I do believe that you will be more adept at countering it."

The green eyed boy merely nodded his head, "Yes Professor."

"Now, you are to take the potion twice a day after meals. I will inform your mother that I will be making this batch of potions for you, because it is imperative that they are all done in the exact same manner. Your mother and I use different potion techniques for different remedies, and I do not wish to make things worse, but the problem needs to be solved is quickly as possible, before the worse happens and your shields collapse."

Harry stood as the man pushed a set of vials towards him and placed the imperturbable charm on them to keep the objects from breaking, "Thank you Professor. Is there anything I can do to return a favor?"

Snape took an even smile on his face, "Now Mr. Potter when someone offers you help for free, and then you ask if there is something they can do, you can always expect a Slytherin to counter your offer. As it so happens I do require your assistance with something."

Harry was quick to accept, "Name your price sir. I would be glad to assist in anything."

Snape scolded the boy, "So quick to offer. What if I asked you to poison someone, or to steal something?"

"I trust you sir."

This answer seemed to catch the man on a hot step and he blinked in surprise. Then shook his head, "Bloody Hufflepuff...Seeing as I will be in your home on Christmas I will of course bring a gift to my hosts. While I have known your mother for many years and have bought her many Christmas presents in the past I now find myself in the position of needing to buy your father something. It would be rude to be a guest in a man's home, and provide his wife with a gift, and not one for him. I may not like the blithering block head, but he is my best friends husband, and I will respect him in his own home."

Harry's mouth was open like a fish, and knew if Sirius had heard the question he would've killed over right then and there, as it was merely ridiculous that Severus Snape may want to buy James Potter a Christmas gift. Deciding there was still much to live for he didn't comment for a moment, until he came up with an idea, "My dad is actually rather fond of Wizards' chess actually. A simple gift would probably be best, as I am sure you are not wanting to wow the man."

Severus suddenly looked like he had been struck with an idea, "Mr. Potter your idea has been most enlightening. Your assistance is appreciated."

Harry rolled his eyes a bit, knowing the man would never say the words thank you till the day he died. But the boy bowed, "No thank you Professor for your help and wisdom. I will leave you for the night, and wish you a happy holidays. I will see you Christmas night?"

Snape nodded his head, "Of course. Goodnight Mr. Potter. I trust you have your safety net back to the Hufflepuff common rooms?"

Harry nodded and swept his cloak over his shoulders, "Goodnight Professor."

The young man swept through dungeons as quick as possible, and as he was walking towards the great entrance hall he heard a slightly annoyed voice speaking, "But Master you are not strong enough. The boy must be kept in the dark for now. He has great skills."

Harry stopped dead recognizing that voice from any nightmare. He closed up his senses and put it all into his hearing, and magical sensory. He couldn't sense anyone else in the hall, but he could feel dark magic in the hallway. He then heard Quirrel's voice again, "It will be as you say my lord. The stone will allow us to create the final Horcrux and end this once and for all."

Red flags went up in Harry's mind as he heard the word Horcrux. He wasn't sure what it was, but it didn't sound good. The fact that he was creating the FINAL horcrux also did not bode well. As he went to the common room he seemed to be lost in thought as he invisibly bumped into Heidi on his way to the dormitory. This caused the girl to flinch and look around wildly, but Harry didn't care. He just went straight up to his room to ponder what he had heard. He recognized only one acute fact, and that everything was about to go from bad to worse.

****(A/N) Thank you so much for all the reviews, and as promised here is a chapter! I will still update Sunday, so please keep up the reviews and thank you!****


	13. A Dark Magic Christmas

****Chapter 13****

The Christmas holidays were not going as splendidly as they usually did in past years. There was an impending cloud of doom just circulating over Harry as he knew he had stumbled upon something dark. In the past he would've rushed to the Headmaster, or even his parents, but he knew what he had learned was beyond sensitive information. He also knew that the Dark Lord was not stupid, he had meant the green eyed boy to hear what was said. There was no logical explanation for why he would let such privy information be spoken in such a usually populated area. Past curfew or not.

His occulmency shields however had been improving tremendously however, so he was able to keep the hidden information to himself, and not wear his emotions on his sleeves like he had been over the past few months. Unfortunately Susan, and Hannah caught onto something while they were on the train ride, but didn't interrogate him on the matter. They did however beg him to come by Abbot Manor Christmas Eve to spend sometime with them, which Harry agreed to.

However today he was going to be spending the days with his siblings and catching up with them on the quidditch pitch. They weren't playing a game or anything of the sorts, they were just tossing the ball around catching up on trivial things. Harry of course was interested in their training, but Jack had assured him that they were being sponges on everything Moony was teaching them. Rosalie even managed to impress Harry by producing a shield charm with a practice wand. It was flimsy at best, but he could tell it was as strong as Hannah's was when she was first casting hers. However of course the girls were now casting pretty strong shields, and Darrel's shield had improved tremendously over the past two months. They were now training with him every other day, and Neville was only training on the days they weren't, which gave Harry company every day.

It wasn't that Neville didn't want to train with the girls, he just wanted to focus on his housemates and help them out a little more. He wanted Gryffindor to stand a chance in the future, so he had been doing dueling with some of his housemates/quidditch teammates. Neville had actually beaten Slytherin as a Seeker, because Gryffindor was in desperate need after Charlie graduated last year. Minerva wanted to bring in young blood, and hope that one day he would be as good as the older Weasley, but with Cedric and Harry coming up the young man personally doubted ever winning a quidditch cup, but he wouldn't settle for anything less than second.

Darrel and Cedric actually made one hell of a team. They coordinated dueling and quidditch practice really well, and both teams looked really good. The match between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor would be the second week of March, while the last game against Slytherin would take place some time in May.

Harry graciously believed he was handling stardom pretty well. He didn't gloat or taunt any rival house, or even his own house. He kept an even head on his shoulders while he was praised for his prowess in both dueling and quidditch. His parents were especially proud that he had finished number one in his class for his first time, with Neville being slightly frustrated that the Ravenclaw Hermione Granger ended up topping him because of Snape's potions class. Apparently Neville was sabotaged a lot by Theodore Nott and his goons, which caused him to get poor grades in the class. Normally Harry wouldn't believe such biased teaching went on at Hogwarts, but he also new that Neville wasn't great at potions, however he was probably at the skills of a late second year or a crappy third year brewer. Which means he should not have gotten anything less than an outstanding in the class. Or Exceeds Expectations at worse, instead of the Acceptable he received. History of Magic was also costing Neville, but even Harry only got exceeds expectations in there, while everything else was an Outstanding.

While Rosalie and Harry were catching up it was brought up that Jack had been spending quite a bit of time over at the Weasley's with Ginny and Luna. This was great news to Harry because it gave him optimal teasing material, and hopefully an out on the forever crushing Ginny Weasley. Apparently the girl had a bit of an obsession with the boy who lived, and Harry only slightly hoped that she would take to his handsome younger brother instead. He liked Luna Lovegood though. The girl was eccentric, and after she lost her mother, she actually spent quite a bit of time at Potter Manor spending time with all the Potter children, as she was a bit of a drifter between the group. She got a long with all the Potter's which made her welcome in their home at any time.

Rosalie had at least one similar problem that Jack experienced, and it was that one of her best friends had a huge crush on her brother. Romilda Vane was a cute darker girl, but she was two years younger than Harry, and he hoped that as she got older she would see him as an older brother as she has spent so much time around the Potter's. Astoria Greengrass was another one Rosalie's friends, but thankfully she held no romantic feelings towards the Hufflepuff, but was apparently in a potential betrothal contract with Draco Malfoy. Astoria was more of a pureblood princess thankfully, so the girl was fairly intelligent and down to Earth when it came to Harry. He had no problems with the girl, or her older sister Daphne.

The siblings had all spent the day before Christmas eve happily together though, and even did a friendly duel so Harry could gauge where they were. He was impressed, as he to fought with a practice wand to make things fair, and he was now more excited to see Rosalie and Jack enter Hogwarts and let the Potter legacy grow around them.

On Christmas Eve the family was going to gather for dinner, and he did mean the whole family, so Harry would be going to spend the day with Hannah, and Susan at Abbot Manor. Lord Abbot had told him that he would open the floo to him that day, and Harry appreciated the vote of confidence while he waved his goodbye to his family.

Sweeping through the chimney of his own home he appeared in a cozy room that was darker due to the curtains being hung around the room. He carried four gifts shrunken in his pockets, and while he fingered them in his pocket he observed the room recognizing a library when he saw one. He didn't have much time to observe as he heard the door open to see Darrel coming in, "Blimey Harry. When did you get here? We weren't expecting you for another fifteen minutes."

Harry shrugged dusting himself off, "If your early your on time, if your on time your late. No worries though I just came through. I thought I would end up in the living room or something though."

Darrel interestingly asked, "What did you say the floo password was?"

Harry thought for a moment before shaking his head, "I may have said Abbot Manors. Sorry I hope I didn't come into a private room?"

Darrel patted his young friend on the back leading him out into the hallway, "Not at all, just the library. The Abbots have lived here a long time, so we have our grimoire in their though. Would have looked suspicious if you had been sorted into a house other than Hufflepuff."

Harry laughed at the boys insinuation where he then heard scampering footsteps, and the two matching blows to his body. He didn't have much time to even brace himself as he wrapped both arms around the blonde and red head who were squeezing the life out of him Hannah was the first to ask, "Harry when did you get here? We were waiting by the fireplace downstairs!"

Darrel chuckled, "It seems Harry needs more work with floo travel, the enunciation was a little off so he ended up in the library."

As the three separated from their group hug Harry grinned, "Well while I have the three of you here I might as well give you my gifts. Just open them tomorrow, but I didn't want to forget."

Harry pulled out one gift and reversed his shrinking charm wandlessly, handing it to Darrel, then Susan, then Hannah. To Darrel he gave a set of work out clothes that were made of a nice troll hide, which Madame Malkin manipulated into something nicer. The point was they were spell resistant, and that they would help him during their dueling training. They also had the black badger logo in it that showed which house they came from. Harry had a matching set, which he thought looked pretty awesome. For the girls he had given them chocolates, and wand holsters to help their draw time. Darrel already had been given a nice wand holster from his dad, so he saw now need to try and out do an already acceptable gift.

A voice came from behind the group as they all were getting ready to go put presents under the tree, "A most impressive display of magic Heir Potter, I would be surprised if adults could do what you did so casually."

Harry turned to see Lord and Lady Abbot standing with bemused smiles on their faces while the young man bowed, "Lord and Lady Abbot, while I am in your home I hope you will just call me Harry. I also say that honestly wandless magic is a nice party trick that not everyone may be able to do, but it is more difficult to apply it to dueling or combat. My own father can't do much of it, but what he can do is mostly useful in dueling magic."

Lord Abbot smiled at the humble young man, "For the time being since you have permitted us to use your informal name we ask that you do the same for us, my wife is Melissa, and I am simply Brandon while you are in this home."

Harry gave a bow of thanks. While the kids went to have lunch and lounge around, Darrel and the parents went out for some last minute Christmas shopping which left the three kids alone. Most would think this irresponsible, but with the wards around the home, it was above unlikely something would happen in their absence.

Susan was ranting about her aunt having to work Christmas day, but it was clear while she was upset, she understood her Aunt's job was an important one, and that she was only a little bitter, not truly upset. Hannah however was thrilled to have her friends over on Christmas eve, "Normally the day passes so slowly, and mum and dad always leave for last minute Christmas shopping or whatever they go do. Darrel normally doesn't go with them, but he usually hangs out with Cedric or Heidi, but since they both left for vacation it just wasn't meant to be this year."

Harry sighed, "Normally mum is the only one home this time of year. With dad being an auror, and him being pretty dedicated to fighting the dark arts, he isn't home very often. The war may have left the streets, but I don't think the war really ever left him."

Susan took a sad face responding, "Same with Auntie. I think she is even more busy now that she is trying to boost the auror program and prepare for the worse. Its possible your dad and my aunt could just be trying to prepare people. The more we prepare now the more lives that could be saved in the future I suppose."

Hannah tried to cheer both her friends up, "We just have to remember we can't stop living to fight this war. We have to remember what we are fighting for. Christmas with our families, I can't think of much else that could be more important."

Harry grabbed the glass on the table holding it up, "To remembering what were fighting for. For this Christmas and the many more after that."

The girls smiled at the boy and tapped their glasses of butterbeer to his and took long swigs. The conversation went much lighter for several hours. Harry told them he was going to Neville's for New Years, and that maybe they should convince their families to come to. Augusta always invites the light families, so he was sure that they would be invited.

Before Harry could leave the Manor he knew he had one matter that still needed to be taken care of. When Darrel arrived back home, Harry asked if the girls would excuse him for a moment, as he had some questions about the dueling team that he was concerned about. The girls having no reason not to trust the boy and both went to the kitchen to help Becky Abbot make some type of desert while the house elf made dinner.

When the girls left Harry took out his wand and placed another privacy ward around the two, "Sorry about that, I know your family is very light, and I could not risk the information getting out, not even to Hannah and Susan. I need a favor Darrel. I heard Quirrel talking to himself the night before I left, and he mentioned something that has disturbed me. I would've brought it to the Headmaster or even my parents, but I'm afraid its something really dark, and they won't tell me. I have a really bad feeling its important though, and that it somehow affects me. Can I trust you to be discreet and help me dig around to what is going on?"

Darrel sat back into his chair and ran a hand through his hair, "Alright Harry. I'll help you. The Abbot family has always been well rehearsed in magic, maybe I can find something in the library here or the restricted section back at Hogwarts."

Harry grinned, "I have a way we can go check the restricted section undetected if you promise not to go all prefect on me?"

Glaring Darrel sighed, "Okay Potter, I'll give you my word on it. Now tell me what were looking for."

"A Horcrux. Whatever it is I think its in pieces, because Quirrel said he was going to create the final one. Whatever it is, I don't think it bodes well for the rest of us." Harry explained.

Darrel seemed to look intently for an answer in his brain, but couldn't come up with anything, "That sounds like dark magic alright. Have you thought about asking your godfather? He is a Black after all, and if anyone is just straight up knowledgeable about the dark arts it would probably be him. Or maybe even Snape. Didn't you say he helps you out from time to time?"

"Snape is still a Death Eater, and he took a lot of oaths while under the Dark Lords allegiance. I can't risk triggering that or setting something off. Or worse him go back to the headmaster telling him that I am delving into the Dark Arts. If I say something to Sirius I risk it getting back to my dad, who as a Potter would disown me for looking into dark stuff. Its not that I don't think they don't know what they are, more of a matter will they tell me. I understand I am eleven years old, but in a few years war is going to break out, and we don't have time to decide if I am old enough to hear certain information anymore."

Darrel sighed, "I agree with you, and I will help you. We just have to be prepared for the worst of whatever we find."

Harry nodded in agreement, "Thanks Darrel, and Merry Christmas mate, I need to be getting back, but I wanted to talk to you before the New Years to give you some time to sleep on it, or dig around your family library."

Darrel nodded and clasped the boys hand, and gave him a standard fist bump. Harry found the girls and wished them a merry Christmas, while they all followed him out to the floo network where he would be sent home. The adult Abbots were sending Harry off when he remembered he still had the host gift in his pocket, "I almost forgot... A gift from House Potter."

Harry handed the package to Lord Abbot as he stepped into the fireplace. He knew the man was in quite the shock, but knew it would be better to hear about it from the girls then to see it personally.

He spoke clearly as he dropped the floo powder into the fireplace and whisked himself back into Potter Manor.

Christmas Eve dinner was a light occasion. Sirius was in with his Wife Emmeline Black, and his new daughter Aurora Black. No middle name, but she sounded like a Pureblood Princess, so that satisfied what was left of Sirius' family. Remus was sitting next to Tonks who was developing a crush on the werewolf so Harry's mum had told his dad. Andromeda of course was in town with her husband Ted, while they socialized mostly with Lily, as they lived a pretty magic free way of life. This only left Harry, Rosalie, and Jack to be sitting on the far end of the table.

James Potter looked a little beaten these past few days. Work was swamping him, and he also recognized that it was this time all those years ago that they had lost Grandpa Charlus and Grandma Dorea. It was always hard on the oldest Potter this time of year. He had grown up with it all, money, power, looks, family, and suddenly one day he lost the most important one of those things and was lost. Lily often told her children that was when she had fallen in love with their father. It was right after his parents died that he became a changed man. Decided that he was going to take school seriously, and go into the auror department. He suddenly had a huge responsibility on his shoulders to avenge his family, run the Potter family, and continue the Potter family. Lily Potter would be the first to tell you that she didn't really want kids so young, but it was a necessity when she married James out of Hogwarts that they continue the Potter line. She loved her husband and was willing to stick by him through it all. When the prophesy came around, it was time for the family to stand together. If anyone asked Harry he would say they did so admirably.

Harry always wondered if his dad would be okay, but as he watched his mum take his dad's hand discreetly, and he watched the man smile he knew he would be. The sad thing was no else noticed it. James was looking a little down, but suddenly a simple hand from his wife and the man was smiling again. Harry was sure that his dads best friends that were more like brothers may have noticed it at one point, but Harry wondered if it was a level of maturity that he was able to realize it too.

The dinner past, as did most of Christmas day. Snape came over as the sun set, which allowed James to tell the first joke of the day about vampires coming out for food. Harry would have swore someone spiked his drink later, but he could've sworn he saw the man crack a smile. When Severus gave his gift to James Harry was shocked to see it was actually larger than the gift he gave his mother. Of course once Lily opened her gift it was clear which one was probably more expensive as it was an expensive potions kit that his mum had been wanting to try out, but as the two had always shared that passion together, Harry figured it was a great gift by her reaction. James Potter however was stunned when he opened the box to find a chess board to see a one of a kind transfigured chess board with Death Eaters on one side, and aurors on the other. The kings were Dumbledore and the Dark Lord which was creepy as hell, and Harry thought Severus may have messed up, but when James and Sirius erupted into laughter, Harry knew that Severus Snape had done alright.

Snape however took him aside later in the night and drew his wand on him at lightning fast speed casting a medium level legillmency attack. This was no probe like last time, this was an assault. After however only a couple of seconds Harry managed to throw him and gasp for breath, "That was cold Professor. I was not ready for that."

This caused the man to take a sinister grin, "That is why I did it Mr. Potter. I had to be sure your shields had indeed rebuilt themselves, and I must say they have done so possibly beyond their levels before. As I am sure you could tell I did not throw my whole power behind the spell, as that would have defeated the purpose, but I do believe that the shields are fully operational."

Harry took a sigh of relief, "Thank you Professor."

As Harry was about to walk back into the kitchen to join the other a rough hand landed on his shoulder, "Not so fast Mr. Potter. I actually have a gift for you with me tonight."

Harry reached into his back pocket with a small smile on his face, "I actually do as well Professor. As much as you have helped me these past two years I wanted to thank you for what you've done."

Harry enlarged the book in front of him, "Its a book over forgotten wards, potions, and poisons. I pulled it out of the Potter library. I figured you would have better use of it, as no one has probably opened it in three hundred years."

Snape's eyes widened, "That is very generous of you Potter. Than- the gesture is appreciated. Now my gift has a tendency to be...volatile, so I ask that you take great care when using it."

Severus handed him a book carefully, "The headmaster and your father would kill me if they discovered I gave this to you. But I have seen your resolve, I have seen your skill. The item before you will heat up when dark magic is being used. I invented it myself. Some would say however that it is a magnet for dark magic, and that it could lead you to learn how to master something along those lines, and as it is a gift, I would say use it in whatever way benefits you the most...Good evening, and Happy Christmas Potter."

Harry took the ball that was handed to him carefully. It was in this moment he believed that Professor Snape was truly looking out for him, and not just because the Headmaster commanded him to. It was this line of thought that made him speak a single word that he would one day regret, "Horcrux."

Snape stopped on a dime, spinning around on his heel, "What did you say?"

Harry looked around nervously, and motioned for the man to follow him away from the kitchen. When they made it towards the living room he noticed it was empty and put up a privacy ward that he had become so adept at using, "Your not the only keeping things from the headmaster. I have feared that if I took this to anyone you would either obliviate me, or not tell me the truth. A war is coming, and I am not only expected to fight it, but I am expected to win it. I can't have information this vital being kept from me. Or I could be totally blowing this out of proportion, because I don't really know what it is, sir. A Horcrux that is."

Snape's eyes widened, "Where did you hear of such foul magic?"

Harry bit his lip as the Professor's voice rose, "From Quirrel right after I left your office that night before break. He was talking to himself, but I have the feeling he wanted me to over hear him. I could be wrong, but I could sense a dark presence. Whatever he was talking to wasn't communicating with words I could hear."

"What exactly did he say?"

"That the boy was becoming to powerful, and that he would need the stone to complete the final Horcrux."

Snape fell back into the chair behind him with a pained look on his face, "Magick Moste Evile. That is the only answer I can give you. To say anything else would likely kill me. For once I will say that your discretion to tell people this is truly wise. You must be keep that word and its meaning under wraps. Your shields must be at full power at all times. You cannot allow the headmaster or anyone else to know that you will find out what those vile things are. Obliviation may be the least of your concerns."

Harry nodded in understanding, but also a little fear. He was right then. The magic that he had heard Quirrel talking about was of the darkest sorts, and even though Snape hadn't told him what they were, he had given him the key to find out, "Potter. I don't believe any eleven year old in this world should know what one of those are. However I believe you are correct, and for all the right reasons. It is because of that I have given you a source. Never, bring this up again."

Harry nodded quickly, "Yes Professor."

With that Harry brought down the ward and the two scurried back into the kitchen, with minds on anything, but Christmas.

****(A/N) The next chapter will be pretty much a filler, Chapter 15 the fun will begin! I think the first year should be wrapped up around Chapter 20. If anyone thinks things are unncessary, then let me know. If people aren't interested in reading about quidditch and dueling matches, let me know. I need to know what I can skip over, or what needs to be talked about. So please review and give me your thoughts! See you guys soon, and stay tuned!****


	14. Gathering Allies

****Chapter 14****

Christmas and New Years came to pass, and the day before they were boarding the train to back to Hogwarts the family was having a rather cold pick up game of quidditch. Rosalie and Harry were currently man handling Sirius and Remus in a chaser shoot out, but the whole group was having fun in the little round robin tournament they had created. By the end of that day Harry had his arms around both his siblings talking about that he would come visit them on Rosalie's birthday which was in early April. Jack's birthday was in late August, which would make him one of the youngest in next years Hogwarts class.

These were good days, that Harry would look back upon when he needed strength. These were the days that would one day power the corporeal patronus he had been working on.

New Years passed without hitch. Basically Harry brought Darrel up to speed on what he had learned from Professor Snape, and told him that maybe it would be best if he backed out of learning what the dark artifact or piece of magic was. Darrel was reluctant to agree, and told Harry that he would stick beside Harry through the task, which was a casual showing of why he was put in Hufflepuff.

When school started back the boys took the very first night to go explore the restricted section. Darrel told Harry that he would not need access to his invisibility cloak as he was going to claim that he was just on prefect patrol. It didn't take long for the green eyed boy to realize he wouldn't have made it very far without Darrel, because when the restricted section asked for a password which, Harry had not the faintest clue for.

The moment they made it to the library Darrel strolled over to a specified area, where he said he had located the book earlier that morning. He explained to Harry that they could not steal it, because there was an anti-theft ward on every book in the restricted section. This meant they had a limited amount of time to not only discover what a Horcrux was, but to find it in the book as well.

Neither new a index spell and Harry wanted to scold himself for not asking his mother or someone else that might know for that matter. The boys were scratching their heads, and disgusted at what they were reading. After about an hour of reading Darrel turned green, "I think I just figured out why Snape was so vicious in his warnings."

Harry scrambled over to Darrel reading over his shoulder. Darrel read, "A Horcrux is one of the most complicated pieces of magic known to our kind, however it is also one of the most vile. In order to achieve a gate way to immortality one must learn the process of splitting a soul. The easiest and safest way to do so is to commit a murder of an innocent. Children, women, priest, nuns, monks, ect. The act must be done in an dishonorable way, for example stabbing one in the back, the killing curse, and performing dark rituals, refer to page 141."

The boys exchanged nervous looks. Darrel asked, "Why would Quirrel be building Horcruxes, and you said he said the final piece, why would you build more than one?"

Harry glared at the book, "Someone is keeping information from us. Crucial information I fear. I hope Snape got more out of what Quirrel said then what we did. All I learned is that Quirrel is a coward and a vile man. This is worse than the unforgivables."

Darrel scratched his head running a hand through his blonde hair, "You said you've felt dark magic for weeks. That you have seen shadows where there shouldn't be. Harry...Quirrel isn't building Horcruxes, his master is. Or worse yet, his master has, and is trying to reach them or finish making them. The question is...is the master who I think it is?"

Before Harry could retort to that he felt his sensory of magic pick up a very powerful and familiar presence coming towards them. Harry quickly offered his fellow badger the cloak, but Darrel shook his head and stood up holding his lamp out as if he was exploring the library, while Harry started walking quietly in the opposite direction. Snape soon appeared, but he was shoving Quirrel up against the walls, "Perhaps you need a final warning, you best check where your loyalties lie, or my hand might just slip into your morning pumpkin juice."

Quirrel stuttered out, "Now, now Severus, I don't think there is any need for hasty threats. We are all on the same team here. Do you really believe Dumbledore would've hired me had I not been?"

Snape took a twisted smirk at the question, "I think the headmaster's old age has made him many things, and wise is not one of them. I just hope you are telling me the truth."

Suddenly Darrel came into the picture, "Professors. I have followed a student into the restricted section before I lost him or her. They were perusing the library when I caught site of them. I need to get back to the hallway, if you would be willing to continue the search. I have not been granted permission to patrol the restricted section."

Quirrel clapped then stuttered out, "I will escort you out my boy. Ten points to Hufflepuff for outstanding diligence. Now let us talk about your last essay as we leave Professor Snape to search the library."

Darrel was instantly uncomfortable, but he was motioning behind his back for Harry to get lost, and Snape just shook his head and darted off in pursuit of said student. Harry followed the professor, as he did not know a way out of the restricted section, and backed into a dark room when Filch's cat came onto the scene.

Harry was heaving for breath at the situation. He had just gotten Darrel escorted out by the last person on planet Earth he probably wanted to run into. Snape was now out pursuing a student out of bed, and he was trapped in this abandoned classroom. Sighing in stress the boy began looking around the room hoping to find something useful or even an exit, but that probably would have been to much to ask for.

Swearing he sat down in a desk taking off his invisibility cloak, "Fantastic, I get stuck in a room, with myself to reflect upon."

As he stared to the other side of the room he was looking at himself, but suddenly the picture began to shift behind him and he stood up drawing his wand, but turned to see nothing. When he looked back into the mirror it was empty, but it was clear a different shape was trying to form. Slowly he walked towards the mirror with his cloak and wand in hand. He noticed a small scripture on top of the mirror and couldn't make sense of it, " Erised****stra**** ehru ****oyt**** ube cafru ****oyt**** on wohsi."

He waved his wand in the air drawing the letters then casting the revealing charm, as the letters unfolded, "I show not your face, but your hearts desire."

As Harry watched the image form it showed him a red headed girl all grown up in a wedding dress, and it showed him in the middle of another person who looked rather similar to his father. He was wearing a tuxedo and it was clear these two were getting married, but the way Harry stood it was clear that they were not getting married together, but that they were going to be married. Behind these two were unfamiliar faces, but on the outside of the photo was an older man and women that looked identical to his parents, Sirius, and Remus. Before the whole family though was a body was on the ground covered in a shroud.

Harry stared at the picture for some time, when he put it all together. His hearts desire was to see his family grow old. To see his brother and sister have lives, to see his parents become grandparents, to kill The Dark Lord.

He was astonished as to what had unfolded before his eyes, but he realized that to much time had passed and he needed to get back to the common room to see Darrel, before he began to worry.

It only took a few minutes to go back through the entrance to the library and exit to the main floor and make his way to the Hufflepuff common room. When he got there Darrel was standing on his feet pacing, but when he saw Harry he stormed over to him placing a hand on each shoulder, "Merlin Harry, I thought Snape or Quirrel had caught you. My Occulmency shields were going haywire. Quirrel tried to talk to me for a good thirty minutes, I think he was trying to figure out why I was really in the restricted section. He saw right through my lie."

Harry sighed, "I'm sorry I brought you into this. He's onto both of us. I found the Mirror of Erised."

Darrel whistled, "Nothing half ass with you mate. What are we going to do next?"

"I honestly don't know. I now have more questions than answers. What did he make the Horcruxes out of? How many did he make? Did he ever actually make one, or was what I heard a need to finish a ritual to create one. What does Dumbledore know?" Harry inquired.

Shaking his head the prefect answered, "The Dark Lord walks among us. Snape will have informed Dumbledore without using your name, so we have informed the right people of the right thing. The question is what do we do about it?"

Harry put his hands in his head thinking quickly. Before he could come up with a response Darrel spoke, "Its to much to ask anyone, much less an eleven year old. I understand the stress mate. Maybe we should sleep on it, and talk about it tomorrow."

"We should just keep training. Keep our eyes on Quirrel, when he makes a move we either inform the teachers or strike. Whichever comes easiest or quickest at the time. We will need to be constantly vigilant over the next few months, weeks, or even days. If Quirrel goes for the stone the stakes have gotten much higher, and we will need to stop him at all cost. If he has created a Horcrux, or is going to attempt to finish creating one then he will be able to gain his power or magic back. Even if it was only in fractions it would make him immensely powerful and difficult to handle. We must stop him before something like that can happen." Harry ranted.

Nodding the dueling captain spoke, "I agree with you there. We step up training. We work harder, and create the perfect effort that Cedric is going on about. You have family in Tonks, maybe we should bring her into it. Cedric to. This is getting to big for us mate. We have to prepare to stop him. If he gets to power now, then the game will be over. There won't be time to train or gather forces and power. We have to act now, or we may be talking about this in the new great adventure that Dumbledore talks about. Its your move, and I will follow you on this. Not because your the boy-who-lived, or the chosen one, but because I trust you to turn things around for us one day. Your going to be beating me in dueling in your third year or sooner. You've got the power, but we just have to nourish it. We can do this."

Harry shook his head in acknowledgment and clasped the boys hand. Darrel then clapped him on the back, "Come on lets get to bed, training early in the morning, and by the weekend we invite Cedric, Tonks, and maybe Heidi to join us. Give us a good opportunity to tell people its just dueling club training."

Harry merely nodded, "Okay, your right. Thanks for your help Abbot. I'll see you in the morning."

With that Harry stood up and headed off towards his dormitory for the night. Darrel seemed to follow, and went to the lower chamber dormitory.

The next day Harry approached Tonks in private, while Darrel did the same with Heidi and Cedric. After Harry explained the problem, without of course the Horcruxes, or Quirrel Possession part, she was all on board for extra defense training. A little bit of something to help her before she did Auror training would go a long way anyways. Hannah and Susan were a little sad knowing they were going to be in the back of the pack, but after Harry explained to them that it wasn't about strength but perseverance they seemed to cheer up and prepare for the following days training.

Harry had also informed Neville of what they had learned about Quirrel. All of it. They were in this together from the beginning and they wouldn't start keeping secrets now. Neville was disgusted and asked for some time to think, while Harry began bringing the others onto the training regiment.

They had a small meeting in the Hufflepuff common room after hours. Heidi, Cedric, Tonks, Hannah, Susan, Darrel, and Harry were sitting around the fire while Harry began to speak, "Cedric, Heidi, Tonks, I know this is going to sound a tad ridiculous coming from an eleven year old, but I ask you remember what I have done, and what you all have seen first hand before you judge what I have to say. As you may have noticed for the past five months, the girls, Darrel, and I have been training every morning. Its not just for dueling training, its to prepare for the inevitable worst. Now had I been sorted into a different house I may never have had the courage to divulge this information to my friends, but we are known for our loyalty, and I hope I can trust you all with this."

Tonks proclaimed, "Well if anything you can rely on the fact were family."

Cedric spoke softly, but it carried great weight with the others, "Darrel has been talking to me over the past few months about your training, he has not told me much about why, but he has hinted at me that I would want to join one day. It involving you, I think I have at least figured out that it has to do with the Dark Lord or a death eater."

Harry looked sharply at the boy, while Cedric continued, "My dad has driven himself crazy doing his best to stop Death Eaters from just resuming their lives, and living on their fortunes. He has ruined his career and his possibility at being Ministry of magic forerunner to stop these men. They took my mother, and I will do whatever it takes to avenge her. My dad believes that the first war was only the beginning, and hearing about your training, and as hard as you have pushed yourself, I think you you may know information to prove his theories. I won't ask for that information, but I want a straight answer hear and now. If you are honest with me, then you have my wand at your side. Is the Dark Lord truly gone?"

Harry and the boy seemed to stare at each other for several minutes, but only seconds had passed before the green eyed boy answered the question, "No." The room sucked in a breath, then Harry continued, "He is at a point right now with the power to return to a full body. When he threw the killing curse at me all those years ago, my mother created a ritual that would rebound the spell, with the possibility of me absorbing the dark magic. It worked, and we thought we had destroyed the Dark Lord for good, but it was not meant to be. As of right now he does not walk among the living, but we have discovered that it may not always remain that way. Since I was seven I have been training every day to prepare to defend my family. When the next round of this war comes through I hope to be of fighting age, and prepared to make a difference. If the Dark Lord came for me once, it is only logical that he will do so again. Me probably at the top of his list, as I am the one who got away."

Heidi gasped, while the others cringed, having heard his argument before, Cedric however stood up offering his hand, "You stopped the Dark Lord for a period of time to allow the rest of us to grow into capable witches and wizards. The fact that you are offering me a chance now to help defend what is left of my family, and train beside you is a gift. As a Hufflepuff, a Diggory, and a Wizard I would be glad to train beside you to prepare for the worst to happen. To prepare for another war."

Harry turned his eyes to Heidi, "I understand where your problem may lie here. Being a muggleborn means before you were eleven you were not aware of the Dark Lords presence. Hearing stories, and learning to fear his name from the moment you entered this world has probably struck a certain fear in you about the man. I can promise you when he returns, if he can return, it will be most violent, and likely much worse than the last time. We do not have near the capable witches and wizards as we did in the last war. The Death Eaters however will only grow stronger."

Heidi asked in a weak voice, "I am not a pureblood Harry. I heard what they did to Muggleborns in the last war. Murder was the nice option. I have every intention of finishing my life in this world. The Muggleworld was not a nice place for me, and when I graduate Hogwarts I do not ever wish to return there. If I want to be free, I understand that I may have to play my part. If this training will help us, then I will stand with my friends. Hufflepuff loyalty through and through I guess."

Heidi tried to sound optimistic, but Harry could understand her fear. Harry had this to say though, "In a few short months, Hannah, and Susan have come a long way. They can produce full shields, and stunners. For first years thats pretty incredible. For the rest of you, your cores are more developed. I can work you through more advanced magic that I have come to discover. Darrel and I have been working on wards, and traps. We were going to delve into curses and offensive magic soon. It is more important that you three can adapt to magical stamina that way we can start building your cores. It involves physical as well magical exercise. I hope you three are up for it."

The group seem to agree to it, and Harry wished them all a good night in hope that they would think on it over for the night.

The next morning the group did the essentials. The first year girls had managed to run the full course for the first time, but they were seemingly dead on their feet afterwards. Susan nearly vomited in the water, while Hannah just seemed to lie down and pass out. Heidi looked like she could run the course again, while Cedric and Darrel were just heaving for breath. Heidi explained that she was a track runner in her grade school, while she loved to run marathons with her parents every year. Harry could since there was more to that story, but let it go.

With Susan and Hannah down for a few minutes, Harry ran them through meditative exercises. Heidi struggled here as she did not have Occulmency shields yet. Darrel promised to start teaching her as soon as possible, and it was easily decided that he would be the best teacher. They did their best to get her through the exercises, but at the end it was time to duel. In the last practice Harry had done shields with Darrel, so now they would break into dueling.

Harry and Darrel kicked off the game to show the others what they were doing. They started with stunners then blasting curses at each other, while Harry called out, "Your wand movement is flourishing, more precision."

After a minute or two Darrel called, "Your power is off, flick your wrist on water blasting charm."

The duel continued and the whole group was watching carefully, when Harry was hit hard with some type piercing hex which caused the boy to grunt in pain, while Darrel called out, "Wrong shield mate. Remember solid shots is better with __Aegis, __not the __protego__.

Harry nodded and the two continued. After a few minutes Darrel slipped in the sand allowing Harry to stun the boy. Tonks looked amazed, "That looked auror level. The way you two complimented and fixed each others technique. I want a go!"

Harry paired Darrel with Tonks, while he put Heidi against the two girls, and Cedric against himself. They took this turn for only five minutes then switched partners with Harry now going against Heidi and Cedric taking shots at Tonks, and Darrel taking the two first year girls. It seems the two on dueling needed work, because the pair had yet to lose so far. That was until Harry got to them. He was use to battling two on one against his siblings, so the girls were unsure how to combat an experienced multi talented dueler.

The training in a whole was great. He gave them a brief cap over what they would be doing over the next few days, and the whole group seemed to leave with pretty high confidence in the lesson. Harry was proud to be leading the group, but he knew he would have to expand his spell arsenal over the summer if he was going to keep up with his older classmates over the summer. However now he was just happy with the way things were going.

****(A/N) So thats that. The next chapter is a bit of a time skip to Mid-march, and bad things are coming! Happy Easter everyone, and please review, so I can post the next chapter as soon as possible! Otherwise I will see you all next Sunday! Cheers!****


	15. A Test and A Beating

****Chapter 15****

Over the next few months the group trained hard. It was a cold Winter though, and after the Holidays a notable even did take place when Draco Malfoy returned to the castle after apparently having been entered into the school late for the back half of the term. Harry had not seen Draco since shortly before Halloween, and he was honestly curious as to where the boy had been. Another notable change was that Malfoy had made it his personal mission to be on better terms with the oldest Potter scion, which made life a little more interesting.

March was upon them, and the quidditch match was just a few short days away. In Harry's humble opinion things were going better than he could have expected. Quirrel was still being kept at bay, and he was being watched nearly around the clock, once he had managed to find his dad's enchanted map, that he was told was nicked by Mr. Filch in his sixth year. It only took some help from the Weasley twins and he had been able to get it back. Now Harry was able to have Tonks place a charm on the name which helped them keep track of the man day in and day out. When he left the castle they weren't sure where he was going, but as long as the stone was safe it wouldn't matter.

Back in January however they had a very close encounter with the Wraith. They were returning Hagrid's dragon to Charlie, and they encountered it on the Astronomy tower. He had informed Dumbledore the following morning, but it was to late to do anything. Harry believed that was why the chief warlock had reached out to him one spring afternoon. Snape had given him a message, that his mentor wanted him in his office after hours that night, and he was to come alone.

Harry may not have wanted to go alone, but he was certain not to disobey the headmaster's direct orders. So once curfew was up he took his invisibility cloak and went straight to the headmasters office. The password was ridiculously ice beetles, but Harry strode in with his head held high.

The headmaster of Hogwarts at in his lofty chair looking through letters as Harry entered and took the seat across from him quietly. After a few moments of silence the light wizard said, "You have been busy these past few months Harry."

The green eyed boy didn't really have much to say to that. His first thought was 'duh', but thought that would be rude, and that was not his goal, at all, so he remained silent, while Dumbledore continued his spill, "I believe you have been reckless with valuable information, but as a Hufflepuff you have a wonderful tendency to see the best in people. The fact that the information you have shared has been with other Hufflepuff's is curious, and I will continue to allow it. I believe you have gathered a good source of allies. Your charisma has also charmed many teachers, I believe in another life your skill and charm could've been used much like one Tom Riddle. However I believe that with the power of family and love you will guide us into a golden age. Now I must ask specifically what you have told your friends."

Harry went on to explain how he just informed them that the Dark Lord may not be gone for good, and that he was training for another wizarding war that would be on the horizon. He also explained that all his choices came from light families, but he didn't tell him that if someone from a dark family had asked him to they would've been welcome to join his group. He figured that would be a bridge that could be crossed at a much later time. By the time he had told his mentor everything Dumbledore smiled, "And nothing has been mentioned about Horcruxes I trust?"

Harry gaped like a fish at being caught red handed, but instead of lying he just went a long with it, "Of course not sir. I merely told them that Quirrel was also up to suspicious activity, and that he could now be a Voldemort supporter. I did not tell them of the stone, but that he could be after a valuable object within the castle. An object that could help the Dark Lord return. I was careful to ensure the priority of the information. It will not be leaked outside my circle of friends. If there is further information that you do not wished leak, perhaps we should specify now, to prevent a further disaster."

Dumbledore gave the boy a patronizing smile, "I detect you are not happy with me Harry. Why is that?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, "Forgive me headmaster, I am off my occulmency potion. My shields are just weak at the moment, allowing my emotions to reign out of control."

The Headmaster sighed, "The way our relationship has worked, is that we've always been honest with each other. While I sense you are telling the truth, I believe it is not the whole truth."

Silence, then retribution, "I am wondering headmaster why you have asked all the teachers to take a step back from my training. Flitwick enjoyed training with me, and I was under the impression I would be his dueling apprentice by now. I know something as trivial as house matters would not have prevented that either. Snape has not hounded me for a legillmency lesson in months. Mcconagal is not asking Neville and I to do Wandless magic as much. You could probably come up with a dozen excuses for all those things headmaster, but the way our relationship works is that we are always honest with each other."

The headmaster chuckled, "How you did not end up with Severus and the rest of his house is unfathomable, your cunning, and wit is so amusing it reminds me very much of your grandfather. He to liked to word trap me. Potters are all Slytherin's in disguise if you ask this old man. But alas you are correct. I have asked all the teachers to take a back seat, while you take the lead. You must guide the students, as they cannot always look into old for leadership. You are one day going to lead the light, you must take the natural leadership that all Potter's are born with, sometimes the most wisdom is in the youth. During the Summer I can assure you we will all begin taking a more active role in your education once again, but until then I expect you to continue doing what your doing. I only wanted to confirm information, and touch base with you. I had acknowledged that you may have had a question for me, and wanted to put your mind at ease."

Harry sighed, "I hope I did not come across as rude headmaster, these have been stressful times, and with the constant fracturing of my occulmency shields I have been under the influence of over reacting to the smaller things. My only wish is that we had this conversation over Christmas while you were at the manor. I understand now though, thank you for clarifying it all, and allowing me to recognize I am not going crazy, or did something horribly wrong."

Dumbledore gave the young man a beaming smile, and for the first time Harry heard a familiar soft trill that would bring a smile to his face until his final days. Before the headmaster could comment the phoenix familiar of the grand sorcerer flew over to Harry's shoulder and gently landed, nudging Harry in the face with his beak. The beautiful creature and young man and connected for a few moments while the leader of the light finally broke the verbally one sided conversation, "I dare say when I pass onto the next world Fawkes would likely seek you out, and attempt to pass on his bond to another great light wizard. I hope one day that Wizard is you Harry, and never forget that in times of doubt, or when you feel that you are uncertain of where your magic lies, you can always call upon the phoenix. To people who have never practiced dark magic, there trills are beautiful and can bring great joy, but to those like Severus who at one point went down the darker path, the trill will always be a painful reminder of forsaking their humanity. Now if you will forgive this old man for keeping you up at such an outrageous hour, I will bid you goodnight."

When Harry left the headmaster's office he took a deep breath of beautiful fresh air. The harsh winter had passed, and in its place were beautiful spring nights. He almost wanted to take the long way back to the common room in order to get a feel for such a wonderful evening, but knew lingering would be unwise.

As he tredded towards the Hufflepuff common room he suddenly felt a presence. Immediately he thought Quirrel, but didn't sense the dark magic that usually followed, so attempted to act like nothing was wrong, until he felt the presence get closer, and he spun around firing a stunner, only to see a shield and two jets of red coming right at him. One he was able to block with a flick of his wrist, but the other hit his wand directly causing him to drop it. Before he could dive for it he felt his whole body tense up and suddenly he was no longer able to move. He knew his eyes could still flit around and realized someone had cast the __perificus totalus__ enchantment on him. However when a face came towards him it was unfortunately familiar, "Fancy seeing you out so late Potter. What is an ickle first year doing out of bed at this hour? Visiting the headmaster perhaps?"

The face of Robert Hillard had appeared before him, and he sensed another magical aura coming quickly towards them and he hoped it was help, but quickly realized that it was closer than he thought, and that the spells that hit him earlier had come from different places. Another voice entered the hallway this time, "Did you really think you could just walk around Hogwarts usurping people without any kind of repercussions. You grew up around purebloods, but you act like a Mudblood Potter."

This was the voice of Rodger Davies. Harry inwardly groaned, while Davies hit him with silent magic allowing him to speak, "What do you two want?"

Hillard growled, "We want you to fuck off, but I don't think were going to the be that lucky. So instead we would like to teach you a lesson that will remind you of who your betters are."

Harry spat, "A fifth year getting beat by a first year in a duel, oh yeah I certainly know who MY betters are."

Harry saw Hillards wand go up, but Davies voice stopped him first, "Now now Rob, you know the teachers may be checking wands tomorrow, so we can't curse him."

Almost sighing in relief at the Ravenclaw's logic, his stomach dropped when he saw a twisted smile come across Rob's face, "Of course captain I almost forgot. I guess we will just have to stoop down to his level, well I guess that's not fair, maybe we should just sink down his Mudblood of a mother's level."

All the green eyed boy felt was his neck snap to the side and an explosion of pain on his right cheek, while Rodger taunted, "Speaking of Potter's mother, do you think she is being properly satisfied at home, or do you think she would take offers? I mean the whole community knows she is just riding the Potter fortune, both literally and financially."

Robert laughed, while Harry growled, but when he did another punch snapped his neck to the other side, while Rodger got closer, "What was that Potter I didn't quite hear you?"

Harry was heaving for breath as he spat blood onto the floor, "I said to fuck off you deaf sack of sh-"

This time he felt a different size fist connect with his stomach and he grunted as he fell to his knees. The curse having finally been lifted. He attempted to get up and fight, but he felt something hit him in the nose really hard and he fell back on the ground realizing he had been kicked in the face. His nose was certainly broken as he felt the crunch when the foot connected with it. He now felt something picking him up by the arms hoisting him up. He looked over at Rodger who had a huge grin on his face, and couldn't see Hillard as he was holding him up until Rodger cast a few charms at him causing him to suspend in mid air as if he were invisibly chained to something. Robert smiled as he spoke softly, "Now Potter we need a little favor. We made a deal with Marcus Flint that if we could get you to quit the quidditch team and dueling team, then he would be willing to pay us some money, and help rig a few tests and such from his head of house. He promised us other things to, but that isn't here nor there. So what do you say Potter? Resign both teams tomorrow, give us your oath, and you can go to bed. Or we can sit here and try to convince you. What do you think Rodger?"

Rodger laughed, "I hope we have to convince him a little more. Come on Potter Wizard's honor we let you go if you give us the oath."

Harry spat on the floor at their feet, "Sound must not travel in here very well,because I swore I told you two to fu-"

He then felt something connect with his right eye, and he didn't see it coming, but he sure felt the ache now, "I was so hoping you would say that!"

The two boys took turns taking swings at Harry for about thirty seconds when they stopped and Rodger said, "You know thinking about your mother Potter I've always had a things for red heads, maybe I need to visit the little girl that follows you around like a lost puppy all the time and get acquainted with her, if you know what I'm saying? I don't really care if she likes it or not, maybe we can set something up where its just like this! Nice intimate hallway after hours, and no interruptions! Just the way I like it."

The pain Harry felt was now agonizing and all over, but he still found the strength to say, "Don't touch her."

A fist connected with the side of his head, and now he was seeing stars, while he heard someone growl, "We didn't ask for your permission Potter. Now what do you say? You wanna watch your house compete from the sidelines for the rest of the year?"

The two waited for Harry as he heaved painfully for breath, "No, I think I am looking forward to schooling a dozen goals against Slytherin this Saturday, but I will sign autographs for both of you once we win the cup and gauntlet at the end of the year."

This was apparently the wrong to say as another blow struck him furious across the head. The stars were getting worse, and black spots were in his vision. Robert then spoke, "Well since Davies gets all the fun with the redheads, I guess I'll just have to visit Abbot's little sister. That would be like a two for one blow at getting back your favorite prefect and our favorite chaser!"

Harry spat, and the ripped hard reaching for his magic for what felt like the hundredth time, and he even managed to get rid of the charms that were keeping him up, but that didn't help him as he fell face first to the floor. After a moment he felt a hand go under his chin, "Come now Potter. Why don't you just give up and we can all call it a night. I think we've been pretty accommodating host. Return the favor and renounce your spot on both teams."

Harry knew that on such short notice Cedric would likely have to forfeit the match against Slytherin if he didn't have seven players. The dueling competition was really no matter at all, because he wasn't fighting in the first match, but that didn't mean he would let his friends down by quitting the team. Not today, not tomorrow, and certainly not because a couple of bullies wanted him to. He gently pushed himself to his feet, while Rodger and Robert both just watched the boy overcome the pain and find coordination. Harry glared at both boys threw squinted eyes, "If you think I'm going to quit on my friends just because you two are afraid of a first year beating your rival house, then I'm going to have to cite you as crazy and remind you that my original message of fuck off still stands!"

Rodger nodded while Robert merely grinned, "Well I'll give this to you Potter, you don't give up, but no matter, a little more convincing by my friend Hillard here, and we will see where we stand."

Harry felt a thunderous blow across his cheek and he dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Harry tried to find the strength to stand, but he was drained. His magic wasn't healing him, he was tired, beaten, and alone, but he wasn't going to give in. When his grandpa Charlus was surrounded by a dozen death eaters he took half of them with him before he gave in, and these two idiots weren't going to kill him, not even they were that stupid, so he forged on, attempting to find his feet, and this time he was struck in the back of the leg making him fall backwards, but before he could be hit again his consciousness began to leave him, but also felt something change within the magic around him. He wasn't sure if it was another presence or something different, but suddenly he heard Rodger say, "We need to go, someone is coming on patrol. Don't forget us Potter, if you refuse, it will be your two little friends next."

He heard nothing after that, but he assumed that the two wizards were probably competent enough to cast silencing charms on their feet. It was so dark where he was he could only pray that whoever was coming would see him. He prayed that it was Darrel, or Heidi, or even Tonks, he just hoped it was a friend, and not a Slytherin. Sadly he felt the footsteps go by him, and he tried to make a sound, but realized those idiots had silenced him before they took off. He reached to his magic and casted a wandless incendio that created the smallest of embers due to his exhaustion, but thankfully he heard two gasps, and then someone was at his side. His head hurt so bad he couldn't really comprehend who it was, nor could he open his eyes very much to make out a face. He did feel a pair of arms slip under him and pick him up though, before he faded into unconsciousness.

****(A/N) So that was the end of the chapter, and the Potter beating. There about three chapters left in the year, one with the matches, one with Quirrel, then the end of the year. Also I ask that you please review, my last few chapters, there have been barely 10 reviews, and that is pretty awful. Please just help me out, and leave a little comment, and I will try and bring updates twice a week! Thanks for reading, and I am open to all suggestions and thoughts! Cheers****


	16. Not Going Down Quietly

****Chapter 16****

Harry awoke in a sadly familiar place. He was in the hospital wing, and it was still dark outside. His head hurt like hell, and had an awful taste in his mouth, probably from all the potions. His body felt numb, but he felt an odd sense of safety when he reached around and found his wand nearby. At this his eyed continued to adjust, he could tell they were swollen from the beating he had taken, and groaned in pain as he tried to sit up. Suddenly he heard two heavy footsteps coming towards him slowly, and out of fear he drew his wand up so fast pointing it towards the noise, when he heard a gasp of surprise, "Harry relax its me Cedric. Merlin mate what happened?"

Harry felt his arm go limp at the sound and name of his friend, as he spoke rasply, "I was attacked coming back from the headmasters office. How long have I been out?"

Cedric checked his watch for a split second before responding, "Maybe an hour or two. Darrel carried you up here, but then came straight to get me, Tonks, and Heidi."

"Who was with Darrel when he found me?" Harry questioned with a thickly battered voice.

"Percy Weasley. He quickly informed the headmaster and our head of house what had happened, while he then rushed to Neville and woke him up. I am sure Longbottom is going crazy in the common room, because he was told he would have to wait until the morning to come to see you." Cedric explained gently.

Harry attempted to open his eyes a little more, but the pain was simply to great, and that was even on potions, "Where are the others?"

Cedric grinned, "Darrel is outside the doors standing guard. He refused to leave the hospital wing, in fact he almost pulled his wand on the headmaster when he was told to go back to his common room. I am sure he will want to talk to you if you are going to be up for a while."

Harry tried to nod, but he couldn't quite manage it, in fear he said, "Please don't leave. They might come back."

Cedric came close grabbing his friends hand gently, "Who did this to you Harry?"

Harry choked out, "Hillard, Davies..."

Being as attune to magic as he was he felt a powerful surge next to him, and then a growl, "Those bastards!"

He then heard the sound of feet coming at a high speed, but he knew as long as Cedric was with him, no one could flat out attack him, and the familiar voice that followed the footsteps actually relaxed him further, "Cedric what's going on? I felt that spike in air outside the hospital wing."

Cedric walked over to Darrel Abbot in a rage, "I'm going to fucking kill those Ravenclaw, Hillard and Davies attacked him."

Before Darrel could retort he looked over to his friend who looked beaten to hell, and frowned, "That can wait till morning. Tonks went to get Professor Potter, who is in the Headmasters office. Right now we need to take care of our friend. Madame Pomphrey is out of the castle right now Harry. She will be back first thing in the morning. Snape was in here earlier, but figured you would be out for a few more hours, I will send him for him if you are going to be up?"

Harry shook his head, "Don't awaken the professor. Fine till morning. Sleep soon."

Darrel came over to the side of Harry's bed, while Cedric pulled up a set next to him on the other side. Darrel spoke softly, "Heidi went back to the common room to wake up the girls and tell them what happened. Tonks if you didn't hear went to get your mum. Your safe Harry. We aren't going to leave until you are able to stand on your own feet."

Harry felt tears come to his eyes, as he spoke in pain, "I wasn't going to quit. They couldn't make me. I wasn't going to give up on you guys like that."

Darrel hushed him gently speaking very quietly, "Its okay Harry. You can tell us everything in the morning. Just get some sleep."

Harry didn't know who did it, but he felt a potion go down his throat and he slowly began to lose consciousness.

Over the next few hours Harry would not even move from his position, and in the case of his older Hufflepuff friends they refused to move too. They were not going to allow their friend to wake up alone after whatever had happened to him. Several times throughout the night the green eyed boy caught glimpses of a conversation Cedric and Darrel were having, and clearly they were not happy with the two Ravenclaws that had caused this. However it was just glazed over in the night.

The next time Harry opened his eyes he felt loads better. He could feel that the swelling in his eye and jaw had gone down severely, and that his body felt more normal. He felt fragile, but mostly healed in comparison to last night. As he opened his eyes he saw two familiar boys sleeping in what was likely uncomfortable positions. Harry spoke softly, "Cedric, Darrel."

At the sound of their names both boys made matching jerks eyes shooting open, Cedric exclaiming, "What, what did I miss?"

Harry tried not to laugh as he could tell his ribs were still bruise, but by not doing so he coughed which hurt much worse, "What time is it?"

Cedric checked his watch same as he did earlier saying, "Its about 6:30, everyone is probably at dinner."

Darrel nodded rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, "You've had a pretty steady flow of visitors all day. Your mum and dad have both been by, but I imagine they are at dinner now. We figured you'd be waking up soon though and didn't want you to take up with no one here."

Harry was rather touched that the older boys had not left his side, "What's happened while I was out?"

Cedric growled, "Well I told the heads of house what you told me, and when it was investigated they both had alibis, and there wands were clean."

Harry sighed, "They used their fist. Told me they were going to fight at my mother's filthy mudblood level."

Darrel shook his head sadly, "Can you provide the memory for us in a pensieve? That should clear up any confusion on the matter, and allow justice to come into play."

Harry nodded, "Yeah just bring me a pensieve later."

The boys went into silence for a few minutes before Cedric spoke in a deadly calm voice, "I can't believe those cowards would attack an eleven year old. No matter who you may be Harry, it is still cowardice on their parts. Did they want something or did they just beat on you?"

Harry closed his eyes for a few moments, as the memories hazily came back to him, "They wanted me to quit the quidditch and dueling team. They made some deal with Flint, and gave me an initial beating, before they told me what they wanted. When I refused it kept going. Then they asked again, and I told them to f off each time."

Both of the Hufflepuff leaders stared at their friend in a bit of awe, while Darrel asked, "Why didn't you just tell them you would so they would leave you alone?"

Coughing again Harry rasped out, "They wanted an oath."

Cedric put his head in his hands and was shaking with fury, while Darrel now had to maintain the deadly calm attitude, "Why didn't you just give in Harry? Its just a sport, its just a game/"

Harry gave the boys a sad smile, "Its not about the game. It wasn't about the game. If I had given in, who was going to stop the next set of idiots that was going to attack me. If I gave in every time someone was going to torture me for something so trivial, then eventually I would give up something so important I couldn't live with myself. Besides I didn't want to let you guys down. I have three days to heal for the quidditch match, and had I quit the team you would've had to surrender because we wouldn't have had a seven man roster. What kind of Potter or Hufflepuff would I be if that happened?"

At this a voice came from behind the group, "One that would live a lot longer!"

The voice was distinctly female and disapproving. Harry looked up to see a red head standing at the edge of his bed now with a familiar dark haired man standing behind her with his hands on her shoulder. Harry grinned, "Hey mum, you look beautiful today, did you do something different with your hair?"

James Potter laughed, "The son of a Marauder no doubt, sorry son, I don't think charming your mother is going to help you out of this one."

Harry sighed, "I did what I had to do. If they hadn't taken my wand from me so quickly things may have been different. But I only detected one magical aura in the hallway, and when the disarming charm came from two different directions, it caught me completely by surprise."

Before anyone else could comment a furious women came around the corner, "My critical patient is awake and no one saw fit to tell me. Outrageous! All of you back up for a moment, while I examine my patient...Good evening Mr. Potter you are looking much better now that you are awake."

Harry grinned, "Thanks Poppy, but you always look good so what standard to I have to live up to!"

The women sighed, "Well at least we know there is no more brain damage than there already was, because each time he ends up in my care I remind him that I am Madame Pomphrey!"

This caused the three men in the room to grin, while the mothers stared down disapprovingly, as Poppy asked what hurt Harry responded cheekily, "My heart hurts that you are still denying me the privilege of first name basis! Its been years Poppy!"

He then heard a proper scolding coming his way, "Harry James Potter this is not a joking matter!"

Harry immediately straightened up, "Yes mum, sorry mum."

The nurse then stared at expectantly at the young man while he sighed, "I feel fine, a little tender, but seriously I feel fine. My ribs still hurt like they were beaten in with a beaters bat, but considering the pain I was in last night, I am fine now. Just ready to go see my friends, and get back in my own bed."

The matron of Hogwarts merely nodded as she cast a few diagnotic charms over the boy, "You do seemed to have recovered remarkably well, of course you won't be sleeping in your own bed tonight. You will remain here till morning, and will take classes easy tomorrow. By Friday you should be back to most of your strength."

Harry asked gently, "Then I am cleared to play quidditch Saturday?"

Poppy Pomphrey crossed her arms, "Absolutely not! You had major brain damage last night Potter, and if you go out on the field Saturday you could seriously rattle something that is already not right. You will have to miss this weekends game."

Before the women could turn around Harry gently the grabbed the woman's hand, "Please Poppy. Its the reason I was put in here. If you bench me, then they won, and I will have taken a serious beating for nothing."

Lily chastised her son, "You are in a hospital wing, where you were beaten within an inch of your life, and the only thing you can think about is quidditch? That is so-"

James interrupted his wife, "Very Potter-ish...I will sign whatever form it takes to allow Harry to play Saturday."

Both women looked at the Potter Lord like he had lost his mind, while even the two Hufflepuff leaders looked a little bewildered at that, but remained quiet in the family spute, "James Potter you will do no such thing. He is my son too, and you can't just go putting him in danger like that! Not for some stupid sport."

James retorted sharply back, "Its not about the game Lils!"

The women seemed to recoil at the words, as Harry watched his dad in deep thanks as he knew he understood, "Our son was as you said beaten to inch of his life last night, by muggle violence. A fist made those injuries, and that is personal. Anyone could fling magic in someone's direction and hurt someone, but this has personal written all over it. From what we overheard Harry was put in here because he refused to give up. He refused to give his enemies what they wanted. A Potter will always do such things. If we forbid him from playing this weekend then we might as well paint a big ole target on our son's back for future incidents. He is a powerful young heir to an ancient and noble house, and he had demonstrated remarkable strength that I will not allow anyone to step on."

The room went dead silent as the eldest Potter had gradually raised his voice. Lily looked about ready to retort when Darrel spoke, "Lord and Lady Potter, no matter what happens, we are going to protect your son. Even if we have to walk him to every class and dinner, this is not going to happen again. Whether I think Harry should play this weekend or not is trivial and pointless, as its not my place to make such decisions. But I have watched your son, an eleven year old boy make decisions, and actions that I would call the actions of a man. His magic has allowed him to mature faster, and he has full mental culpability in making decisions. When he told Cedric and I that basically our respective teams were the reason he took this beating made me want to get up and go kill those two Ravenclaw's that did this, but that wouldn't benefit Harry at this point. At this point he needs to make a statement that something like this is not going to keep him down."

Lily was about to speak when two blurs were at Harry's bedside in a moments notice. Hannah and Susan had just arrived in the hospital wing and they were spit firing questions at Harry making sure he was okay, but he merely smiled at his friends, "I'm fine. Just a little blue at the moment."

James rolled his eyes muttering, "Joking about his bruises while he laying in a hospital bed, the others are going to get a kick out of this."

Harry grinned at his father, while Lily looked ready to curse him. Madame Pomphrey looked at the group gathered before her and sighed, "Lord Potter, I will have the waiver ready for you in a few minutes to allow Mr. Potter to play Saturday. I just hope it is worth it, and that he won't be having another visit to me for the rest of the year."

Smiling lightly the oldest Potter scion commented, "You'd miss me Poppy, I am sure I will be back...and thank you."

The women didn't say another word as she turned to leave. Lily Potter didn't look all to happy about what had happened, but there was nothing she could say or do at this point. Harry was then asked to tell what had happened the night before, and he did the best he could as the memory was still rather hazy. At the end of it his father was fuming, "An attack against an ancient and noble house is absurd. If we can prove this happened I am going to declare a blood feud against both families. This is an act beyond cowardice."

Harry nor the others were going to disagree with the Potter Lord while he was in a state of clear rage. The group of six steadily grew as Heidi and Tonks made their way in. Both had just come from a house meeting where most of Hufflepuff was calling for blood to avenge their youngest champion. Cedric and Darrel even looked like they were going to go ahead and declare open war against Ravenclaw, but were waiting for Harry to make it out of the hospital wing, and come to the fields of war.

The group talked lightly, and the girls told Harry what he had missed in class today, and Ernie McMillan had dropped by some sweets for him, but didn't stick around long. As the night drove on no one seemed to be leaving, but a final visitor appeared before them, and it was the aged headmaster himself who looked very troubled as in comparison to how he usually looked. He quietly approached his young apprentice and his presence brought a deep silence to the hospital wing, "It seems I owe you an apology Mr. Potter. It seems I forgot to ensure you had your father's favorite toy, regardless of that matter however I should've have escorted you back to the common room myself. I had you out past curfew, and I take responsibility for what has happened."

Harry shook his head, "It was wrong place at the wrong time headmaster."

The green eyed boy wasn't sure he really believed that, but he wasn't sure anyone could've known he would be visiting the headmaster so late. Dumbledore sighed, "Regardless, the boys in which you have mentioned to your Hufflepuff captains have pleaded their innocence with several alibis. I have brought my pensieve, and ask that you share the memory of the occasion with me."

Harry nodded as he pulled his wand to his own head and pulled the memory and poured it into the small bowl that the headmaster conjured from his office. Darrel was the first to speak, "I think Cedric and I have a right to see this. Given the circumstances of why Harry was cornered we deserve to know what he went through."

Dumbledore looked like he was going to protest for a moment, but the determination in the Hufflepuff's eyes silenced him, "I must insist that Ms. Bones and Ms. Abbot remain here due to the brutality of the attack and wounds."

Both girls accepted this, as everyone entered the pensieve. Harry smiled sadly at the two girls, "I'm glad you guys are okay. Don't leave without Darrel or Cedric one. Seriously."

The girls frowned at this while Susan took Harry's right hand, "Why what's wrong?"

Growling Harry responded, "Rodger and Robert both had choice words for each of you, and that if they couldn't get to me they would go after you two."

This actually led to Harry blushing while Hannah asked what was wrong, but he merely shrugged refusing to meet either of their eyes. Hannah however wouldn't let it go, so Harry stuttered, "I may have told them some choice words when they talked about you guys..."

This made both girls smile at each other and kiss the boy on the cheek, which caused his blush to deepen. The three then sat together in a peaceful silence, each holding the others hand in comfort. It was fifteen minutes before the others came out of the pensieve, looking furious. Dumbledore was the first to speak, "The attackers were not able to be properly identified."

Darrel roared, "We recognized voices, whatever dark magic they used to disrupt his memory is a nice trick, but it didn't cover up their voices!"

The headmaster however held his hand, "Peace Mr. Abbot. I believe you are correct, however Mr. Davies parents are both on the Hogwarts board of govenors, and if we were to expel them, they would certainly appeal it to a criminal trial, which Mr. Potter would not be able to win, due to the fog of his memory. Others would likely declare brain damage before they called dark magic."

Cedric spoke in a deathly calm voice, "So your saying there is nothing we can do?"

The Supreme Mugwump sighed, as the Potter's all remained quiet, "I am afraid not. Without proof we can't even as much as issue a detention."

Darrel was about to object, but Cedric put a hand on his arm, "No we understand. Until someone comes forward however, as Hufflepuff captains we demand that we be allowed to take necessary steps and precautions to protect our players and housemates."

Going into Professor Potter mode, Lily asked, "What do you propose Mr. Diggory?"

"That the prefects and myself as a respective captain are able to escort the first years to and from classes until further notice. We have no second years on either the dueling or quidditch team. Our third years are small in number, but I think we can spread the prefects thin enough to make sure both are well protected. This was an act against our respective teams, and it should be treated as such. We all heard the reason, and Marcus Flint was mentioned by name. We can't prove he had anything to do with that, but it adds to the credibility of it all."

Dumbledore nodded, "That is certainly agreeable. What of your fourth years and above?"

Cedric took a dark look, "We will be roaming in packs starting tomorrow morning. Darrel and I will call for another house meeting when we go back to our common rooms tonight. If someone as much as raises a wand at one of us there will be ten pointed back. I would even suggest bringing in auror Potter into the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff classes, I have a feeling things are going to be very explosive between the two houses."

Harry sighed, "Leave it to the Slytherin's to start a war between the two houses, and come out completely unscathed."

Dumbledore looked slightly amused by Harry's comment, but slightly disturbed by Cedric's, "Surely violence can be avoided?"

Cedric grunted, "That honestly depends professor. This was an outright attack against one of our own, and I am sure you realize we are the house of the loyal and hardworking for a reason. The whole school is going to be reminded "

Darrel spoke, "If Hillard opens his mouth, I will declare a blood feud between house Abbot and House Hillard."

James was quick to second this thought, "If I feel my son is threatened again I will also have House Potter declare a blood feud against the two houses involved."

Dumbledore nodded, "This is all understandable and I hope we are avoid violence in the coming days."

Harry nodded, but somehow felt that the tensions between houses had probably never risen to such a high point in many years if his friends matching scowls were anything to go by.

****(A/N) Okay so this is the end of the beginning right here. In the next three chapters we will end the year, and then chapter 20 will be the summer, and so will 21. On 22 we will come back, and the year will go much faster than this one did, as will third year. Fourth year will be a big one, but lets get through first shall we? You guys delivered the reviews, so in my thanks here is my update! If we keep it up i might just get in one more post before Sunday! IF not then i look forward to your reviews Sunday Afternoon Cheers!****

****PS. Don't worry Davies, and Hillard will get theirs.****


	17. Righteous Vengeance

**Chapter 17**

Harry's appearance in classes the following day had started the rumor mill like never before. Due to the fact that they couldn't prove the two Ravenclaw's involvement in the attack, the badgers had all remained silent, and not openly accused anyone as of yet. The main goal was to get through the new two weeks with and win the dueling and quidditch matches that were ahead. The dueling team was 2-0 so far, and with the Slytherin match coming up they hoped to advance to an acceptable 4-0.

On Saturday morning Harry sat among his fellow quidditch players preparing for the match, as Cedric gave a basic spill on what was going to happen today, "The Slytherins have no talent in the seeker position, Terrence Higgs, and I have been playing against each other every year, and most of the match he sits up their and floats around. I want our chasers to implement a blitz from start to finish. The school has seen Hufflepuff' take its beating this week from one of our youngest members, and now it is time for us to dish one out with twice the power. Miles Bletchley is a decent keeper, but the only real talent you could say is on the team is Marcus Flint, but today our beaters are going to shut him out."

Darrel muttered quietly under his breath, "Hopefully permanently."

Cedric didn't acknowledge the temperament of his dueling captain, but went on to say, "I am going to do my best not to catch the snitch until we are up by more than 150 points, Potter...Harry, its your show out there on the Chaser spot...you know what to do out there."

Harry exchanged looks with Malcolm and Heidi and when they nodded the green eyed boy gave the confirmation look to his captain. Cedric clapped his hands together in excitement, "Lets go out there and show the school we aren't going to be pushed around. Hufflepuff fight?"

"TO WIN!"

The team gathered around and broke a quick huddle as they took their brooms and took strides out towards the field. It was a beautiful spring day, and the weather for playing was perfect. When he heard the roars of the stands the team mounted their brooms, and took off towards the skies, and after a few minutes of basking in the glory of the sport, Madame Hooch called the teams together.

The chasers lined up in the air as Hooche declared today's match rules, and regulations. Harry went directly in front of Marcus Flint, just as Cedric had planned, and gave him a wicked look of anger. Flint merely grinned at the young man though, and when the quaffle was unleashed Harry dove straight at the boy, and stole the quaffle and darted to the other end of the field where Bletchley was simply not ready for such a fast approach, and missed the oldest Potter's shot by a mile. This caused Flint to react like an embarrassed man, and when he received the quaffle he attempted to rough house Harry, but the young man was not going to be handled, not today. Faster than some pro's he stole the quaffle from the bullying Slytherin fake tossed it over to Macavoy and fired it straight into the closest goal, making it 20-0 with less than a minute of game time.

Over the next half an hour, a few goals were scored for Slytherin, but not a single one of them was made by Marcus Flint. Part of that problem was that Darrel Abbot had marked the Slytherin captain, and was pounding him with bludgers all day, even at the expense of a few goals. Harry in turned had managed to score 14 goals, alone, while Heidi and Malcolm put together only 8. This wasn't by accident though. The team had come together after Harry's attack and decided that at every opportunity Harry was going to strike out against the Slytherin house for their part in his attack. He called it a bit of righteous vengeance. They weren't cheating at all, unlike Slytherin who was becoming increasingly angry as the game went on. The score was 220-60, and the team was up by more than a hundred fifty points, which left Cedric dedicating it all to finding the snitch at this point. However the quidditch gods merely frowned on the Slytherin house that day, as the Hufflepuff team would score another 50 points, 30 of which would be scored by Harry before Cedric swooped into catch the snitch making the final score 420-70, the second largest blow out in Hogwarts History. Ironically enough the largest blow out was held by James Potter's defeat of Slytherin house as well, but in the mid 70's. The announcer, Lee Jordan, was going ballistic, over such a humiliating and painful defeat after the attack on their youngest player. The crowd was wild, but it went silent as the team walked off the field refusing to shake a single Slytherin players hand.

Over the next week the tension within the school would be heightened, and pranking, and straight up attacking between the Puff's and the Snakes were happening nearly daily. The school was almost perfectly divided in the matter too. Due to the fact that Slytherin's were involved, most of their house stayed out of it, but all of Gryffindor stood behind Neville, who was firmly standing behind Harry. The two houses all roamed the halls in packs together, and when the week ended and the dueling tournament came around, nerves were at an all time high, in basically the entire school. Professor Lily Potter had even been forced to place serious wards on her office and classroom, due to the number of times the Slytherin's and or Ravenclaw's had attempted to trash it, which just infuriated Harry, and to an extension Hufflepuff even further. Other than that, if the teachers noticed the tension, it was not commented on by any. Harry figured like most of the teachers did, that after the dueling matches were over, the tension will have died down.

It was the even numbers duelers turn to fight today, and Harry knew that Slytherin basically stood no chance. With Darrel, Heidi, and Cedric all having been training nearly everyday for three months, and Harry now resting at the sixth seed, he knew Slytherin was in deep trouble. Sadly Cedric had been moved up to the third seed duelist, and Heidi was actually now number four, and Malcolm had been moved down to eight. So the first matches line up would be in this order: Tamsin Applebee, Herbert Fleet, Malcolm Preece, Harry Potter, Heidi Macavoy, and Darrel Abbot. Tomorrow's lineup would be: Anthony Rickett, Leanne Summers, the sixth year prefect Gabriel Truman, Heather Bennet, Cedric Diggory, and the number one seed Tonks. They figured after Harry unfairly defeated four duelist in his first match, that it would be better to save his strenghts and let him take on stronger duelist. If it wasn't a matter of house pride, Harry likely would've been the number 3 or 4 duelist. Cedric and Harry went back and fourth a lot in their practice duels, but he pretty consistently beat Heidi. However Heidi had more power behind her spells, and had seniority, which left her in the #4 spot.

When the dueling team took to the great hall, they realized almost the entire school had gathered to watch this match. The Slytherin team led by Terrence Higgs were not yet in attendance which made Hufflepuff the first to arrive on the actual dueling floor. In this match Flitwick was going to be the judge, as he would have no prior interest in the winner. The team quick set out to warming up, with Harry sparring with Malcolm and Herbert in preparations for the match. It wasn't long before Harry saw the Slytherin come in, and when they did the Hufflepuff's started booing while the team just stared on with neutral looks. Darrel commanded that the team not be effected by what has happened, or they would win on general principle. Harry agreed with the good captain and quickly went back to warming up. As Flitwick was calling up the two duelist Professor Snape and Sprout came over to them, while Sprout was wishing her Puffs good luck, Snape spoke quietly, "Remember your solid shields. You are going to have a rough go of things if you don't. Good luck Potter."

Harry acted like he hadn't heard a word, but he knew the potions master knew something, or he wouldn't have said anything. When the first duelist came onto the platform, Tamsin and a nameless second or third year came up and bowed to the other. This fight today would be a little more even than past matches, as this time this was the 12th seed vs the 12th seed. When the fight began, Tamsin was quick as lightning to throw multiple stunners, and since neither duelist was capable of solid shields yet, they were both dodging a lot, which lasted up to nearly two minutes, before the Slytherin boy tripped over himself and caught a blasting charm to the chest, which knocked him clean off the platform. The Hufflepuff's cheered, while Darrel came on the platform gently congratulated the girl on her first victory of the season. The next match was on its way quickly, and this time Tamsin was trounced pretty thoroughly by the Slytherin Keeper Miles Bletchley.. Bletchley would pick up another victory on Herbert before Maclolm would come over and put the boy down hard. The match between #8 seed Malcolm and #8 seed Flora Carrow was fairly even, but the girl proved to be crafty. It was one of the longest duels Harry had yet to witness, but Malcolm would end up taking home two victories before Hestia Carrow avenged her sister in the next match.

This turn of events brought Harry face to face with the third year that clearly had quite a bit of finesse as a duelist. Harry knew this was likely due to her death eater mother, Alecto, but that wasn't going to stop Harry, because she was the only thing that stood between himself and Marcus Flint. When the two opponents exchanged bows, Harry noticed there was actually a bit of respect, and maybe pity in the girls eyes which threw him off a bit. He decided that the conflicting emotions could be questioned later, when Flitwick began the countdown. The second the last number was called out Harry was moving his arm flinging blasting charms with perfect speed. He was taught a three chain by Darrel that allowed him to throw three different blasting curses, bombarda, expulso, and configno into a deadly fast chain. This immediately put the girl on the ropes, and her shields collapsed quickly as Harry followed his three chain spell with a disarming hex which she batted away, but not in time as a stunner quickly followed. Hestia didn't even have time to move her wand as the red light consumed her knocking her straight out. One of the Slytherin's were quick to help her up, and she marched over to Harry, and for a second he thought was going to get slapped, but instead she offered her hand, "You've got speed Potter, I'll give you that. I hope me wishing you luck in the next match is interpreted the right way, and shows you that not all the Slytherin's agree what happened the other night, regardless of who you may be to our parents."

Harry gave the girl a tight smile and took her hand, "I judge people by their actions, not that of their families. Thanks for the match Ms. Carrow."

The girl gave him a wink, "Just Hestia actually."

The green eyed boy didn't get a chance to respond, and wondered for a brief moment if he was being pranked. The Carrow's were both about as evil as it got when it came to death eaters, but one of their daughters was actually being kind to him. It just went to prove that the apple doesn't always have to fall so far from the tree.

Flitwick called the number four seed duelist to the platform, and Marcus Flint jumped up and began walking the length of the platform. Harry locked eyes with Darrel who mouthed the words, 'No Mercy.'

When the referee called for the duelist to bow both just stared at each other, while Flitwick then called them to go to their respective positions. Both took their positions, when Flitwick counted down to two however Marcus flicked his wand, "Reducto!"

A blasting charm came at Harry with breakneck speed, but he easily sidestepped it, and before he could return fire, Flitwick had created a shield screaming at the Slytheirn, "Fault to Slytherin house, and thirty points for poor sportsmanship Mr. Flint. Hufflepuff gets first spell."

Harry knew the rules. If a fault was called on a player, then the other team or duelist would get to cast first, and get to dictate the paste of the duel. Harry wasn't sure if Flint had gotten carried away, or if he just an idiot. Regardless of power level, you don't hand any advantages to a duelist, especially if you are a Slytherin. Harry attempted to fake the boy out a few times, but he refused to move. Suddenly however Harry took an advancing step forward pouring his magic into one overpowered blasting hex, "REDUCTO!"

The sheer power of the spell crushed Flint's shield and uprooted him from the ground. This however wasn't enough to throw him off the platform so Harry threw two curses at him before a final blasting hex hit the boys face, and then a finisher was a simple stunner. Both spells made impact, and blood erupted out of the Slytherin boys nose, while he was rendered unconscious. Flitwick was quick to declare a winner, while Harry turned his back. This however didn't last for long as he saw Darrel moving toward him, and the gasp of the crowd behind him. When he turned he didn't even hesitate to throw up a solid shield, which reverberated with a snap and crack. Whatever it was didn't break his shield, but he felt a lot of heat coming from whatever was thrown at him. He heard the quick sound of spellfire being traded, and when he dropped his shield Darrel was standing protectively in front of him, while Flitwick was yelling at the boy for being a coward, and promising the threat of expulsion.

Harry looked questioningly at his captain who looked back at him with a grimace, "You got a pretty nasty cut on your shoulder mate."

Looking confused, Harry couldn't even feel anything, but when he peered down there was indeed a sizzling side of his clothes, and blood leaking down from it, "Dark magic curse. It was a level one spell in the dark arts, which is nothing more than a slap on the wrist, but it was lucky you threw up that solid shield instead of just a protego, or we would be having this conversation in St. Mungos."

Flitwick hurried over to his young student questioning sharply, "Mr. Potter are you hurt?"

Harry shook his head, "Don't even feel it professor. Honestly. I am ready for the next match."

Flitwick was quick to disagree, "You don't always feel the pain or notice the damage in dark magic. That spell is forbidden in the Jr. age dueling. I am afraid I am going to have to ask you withdraw. I have awarded you victory over Mr. Flint, and Mr. Higgs is not a push over seventh year. I suggest you let your fourth seed and captain deal with this last opponent."

Darrel put a hand on his young friends shoulder, "You did beautifully Harry. Let us take it from here. Besides, between you and Heidi you would beat him for sure, and I would never get a duel this season! Where would the fun be in that?"

Harry conceded the point, and agreed to withdraw from the next match, while Heidi came onto the stage to face off her opponent.

Looking over to the side Harry could see Marcus Flint unconscious and laying on the cold floor, while Snape was talking with Terrence, probably telling him not to embarrass the house more than it already had been. With a brief glance towards Harry, the young man gave his favorite professor a polite nod of thanks, that was missed by all but the potions master.

Madame Pomphrey was quick to tend to the wound, and James had quickly come down to check on him and ensure that he was okay. He was also ranting about how the Flint's would have a blood feud on their hands if something like this were to ever happen again. It may have been Harry's imagination, but his dad was getting really fed up with the death eater kids attacking him. A blood feud was pretty serious stuff, especially if the challenge came from an elder house. A fight to the death between the two heads of family, and the losers family doesn't get to keep anything of commercial value. It was tough consequences, for a very serious turn of actions.

Focusing back on the duel he noted that with the work Heidi had put in over the past few months, her dueling was becoming quite proficient. She came off fast and furious against Higgs, however his shields were crafty, including one that was some type of mirror to even solid elements like Incendio, which was one of Heidi's signature spells. Heidi had him on the ropes in a matter of a few minutes, but when a green curse came flying at her, the whole crowd gasped, and Harry went for his wand as the spell washed over her. The girl screamed before and after the spell hit her, and suddenly she was hit with a blasting red light that soaked the stage.

The whole team was up rushing to the girl as they revived her, she gasped, "Did I just survive the killing curse?"

Terrence Higgs rushed over to her, "Are you okay? I used a modified version of the freezing charm, and turned it green to psychologically mess with my opponents. I didn't mean to cause a panic!"

The glares the boy were getting made him rub the back of his neck, and Harry knew this wasn't some evil prank, but a true act of desperation as the boy was about to lose the duel. Darrel stood up helping the girl to her feet, while Flitwick declared a winner. The fact that the boy apologized probably went a long way with the rest of the team, as no one flat out cursed him when Flitwick called the opponents back to their circles. This would be the first time all year the Hufflepuff dueling captain would get a shot, and he did not look thrilled with his opponent. Harry realized this would likely be the first time he had actually seen his friend duel with everything he had.

Flitwick called out, "After a brilliant display of dueling tactics Mr. Higgs has won the previous duel forcing it into a sudden death playoff match. The winner of this duel will determine which house wins for the day. Duelers face each other, bow. Face me, and bow. Go to your positions."

Harry braced himself for a hell of a show, as the tiny professor began the countdown. At one this time Higgs didn't wait for an invitation to begin flinging spells. However unlike Heidi or even Harry, Darrel knew a great counter technique, which quickly change the paste of the dueling. Higgs certainly favored shields like Harry, and all his offense magic was pretty basic, which was putting him at a disadvantage to some like Darrel who had such a wide use of offensive magic, and its variations. Something that threw off Harry though was when the boy was able to produce a wandless blasting charm with his left hand that almost caught Darrel off guard. He was lucky at the last moment to throw up the correct shield, but then was forced to brace himself as the boy pounded him with stunners. The average wizard can't control a shield for very long, but due to his work with Harry, he held it up like there was nothing to it. After nearly an entire minute of defending he lifted his shields and attacked with the same ferocity as he started the duel, which put Terrence on the back pedals. It was clear his shields were starting to slip up, and that he was being pushed back a little at a time. As the boy approached the back of the platform, Darrel came forward, pressing the remainder of his power into the spells, and eventually causing the boy to step out of the ring with no where else to go. This effectively ended the match, with both duelist still standing. Not something that happened very often. However once Flitwick called the duel, the two shook hands like real gentlemen, and went there separate ways as Flitwick declared the undefeated Hufflepuff's the victors of the days match.

The cheering from the Hufflepuff contingent was enormous, and the team was in a hugging celebration, as they all greeted friends and family that came to watch their duels. Rosalie and Jack both embraced their brother for all he was worth, as this was the first time they had seen him since they had heard about the accident. Rosalie was crying, while Jack wouldn't meet his eyes. Harry just held his siblings tightly though, as he told them it was going to be okay. When they all separated he was congratulated, then embraced by both his parents, and surrogate uncles, who had yet to miss a match. Even his Auntie Emmie was there with her baby boy, who was a cheerful little guy that was only a few months old.

When Darrel called the team back together, he spoke gently, "That was a tough match today. Most likely our toughest of the year. Tomorrow if the rest of you come out and give it your all I am sure we will take a 4-0 approach while going into our match to Gryffindor, UNDEFEATED!"

The team clapped and cheered, while the house members that followed the teams closely approached, "I want everyone to relax for the rest of the day, and duelist for tomorrow, I want no celebrating just yet. That can all come tomorrow night. Now lets go get some food and rest, Hufflepuff FIGHT?"

And the whole house called back, "TO WIN!"

As Harry went back over to his family he saw an approaching familiar presence, and he realized his siblings were really close to him, and took no chances as he drew his wand on the boy, "Go for your wand and you'll regret it Flint. What do you want?"

The Slytherin boy slowly put his hands up, "I wanted to offer a half way sincere apology as my head of house has forced me to do so. Just know that in our next duel you won't be so lucky, and that the same rules may not apply."

James was quickly behind his son, while Harry spat, "Apology not accepted. Your a coward Marcus Flint. When you first realized you couldn't beat me in quidditch or dueling you sicked your little birds on me, and now you attack me while my back is turn. I wouldn't expect any better from the son of a death eater. Some of your housemates have proven they aren't the same fools their parents were, you however have proven that the apple does not fall far from the tree."

Flint growled and was about go for his wand when James barked, "Heir Flint. Son of a Minor House, if you go for that wand the house of Potter will have a blood feud declared within the hour. Seizing all your assets, properties, and anything else I may be able to think of as the Lord to an ancient and noble house. I do believe my heir is done with you, now get lossed, before I declare the feud here and now, or worse have you detained for a grade 1 dark art."

Flint seemed to visibly pale at that as he spoke quietly, "This isn't over Potter. Watch your back."

The boy then stormed off away from his glaring head of house. Harry shuddered a bit, but looked back at his dad, "I have to say I like it when you go all auror on the junior Death Eaters dad."

James merely grinned at the boy as Padfoot and Moony were clearly watching the whole scene carefully, "The boy needs the fear of God struck into him, before he makes some really poor decisions that can't be redeemed."

Harry nodded while Professor Flitwick approached the group, "Well done and congratulations on your two victories today Mr. Potter. I do believe you could've handled Mr. Higgs at full strength, however I did enjoy watching your captain at work. I also appreciate your sportsmanship to the youngest Carrow, and to the coward who attempted to curse you in the back. Had that been the Malfoy heir I expect a blood feud would have been declared right there, which would have been a nightmare of paperwork for our headmaster."

Harry chuckled. "I did learn from one of the best professor."

The tiny man laughed heartily, "That you did Mr. Potter enjoy your victories today. You and your family deserve the break!

Harry gave the man a respectful bow, as he turned and went back to the Hufflepuff alumni, who were some of his former students green eyed boy supposed.

Neville was next to approach the boy, as he embraced his best friend. No words were said until they separated where Neville grinned, "Looks like both Gryffindor teams are going to have to upset you guys if we are going to stop you from winning the gauntlet this year."

Harry laughed faking an air of arrogance, "Good luck stopping us once mate."

Neville had slipped a tiny piece of paper into his pocket, and when the rest of the family gathered around they walked out towards the grounds to attempt and enjoy an afternoon together, leaving Harry no opportunity to read the note, though he knew what it was going to say. When Harry was given the chance though it read '_Birds are the victims to a house of lions.' _

Harry smirked as he read the note, hoping that whatever Neville had planned with his house was going to kill the tension that had been nothing short of a plague.

**(A/N) The next chapter will lead into the fight with Quirrel! Thank you so much for all the reviews, and all I can ask is keep it up, and prepare for the inevitable, because the next chapter might be a tough pill to swallow!**


	18. The Sorcerer's Stone

****Chapter 18****

Tensions within the school had deteriorated. The Ravenclaws were in a panic, over the mass charm that had spread over the house. Most of them were squawking like a bunch of chickens, and others were wearing a ugly mixture of yellow and red robes. Hillard and Davies however have found both of their wands broken, and their trunks placed on a powerful fire charm that was set to blow the moment it was opened. This was the work of Neville, George, and Fred Weasley. Most of the school knew it too, but no one could prove it, and it was clearly a redemption strike on behalf of the Hufflepuff house, who didn't get their hands dirty. When Harry saw his two attackers in the following days he would glare at them shaking his head, assuring them that the war was not quite over. Thankfully most people no longer had time to focus on trivial things such as house rivalries. Most were preparing for exams, even Darrel was having to appropriately refocus their dueling team training for the upcoming OWL and NEWT exams. This played to Harry's advantage as the Hufflepuff had yet to forget, or forgive, and Davies, and Hillard were not basically standing alone.

Things were going well for the house of badgers. The point lead for the house cup was tremendous, and despite the fact that their undefeated dueling and quidditch team were up for the end of the year awards with almost ease, the house was rather elated to sweep inter house competitions. The dueling team was a perfect 4-0, with Gryffindor needing to win both of the final matches against the powerhouse to place first in the gauntlet race, while the 2-0 quidditch team would need to lose by more than 500 hundred points to Gryffindor to lose their championship spot in the Cup.

Harry himself was even fairly happy. The dark presence in the castle had seemingly disappeared, and the 'dueling training' between him and all his friends had never gone better. In fact next year Hannah and Susan both were going to be going out for the team. Harry figured those two would easily be replacing the seventh year they lost, and most of the team would likely be returning next year.

Another notable change had been in one Ernie McMillan. After the attack on Harry, the young Hufflepuff had been constantly sticking to Harry's side, and even asked if he could join up with Harry's dueling training when school started back in the Fall. This made the oldest Potter scion elated that he finally had a guy friend in his own house that was closer to his own age, and was glad to accept the boy, and even push him in the right direction for what he might want to prepare for. Jokingly Harry told Darrel to watch out or half of his team next year would consist of second years. Most had seemed to think he was joking, however most had not recently seen Hannah or Susan duel. The two were an unstoppable team, and separately they even had quite the spell repertoire. All those involved were going to be digging into their Grimorie over the Summer, while Darrel offered to help train with Heidi over the break in more advanced spells, so she could prepare for her OWLs and next years training.

The end of the year was coming, June had approached quickly, and everyone was finishing up with exams and eagerly anticipating the final matches between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. However some things were simply going to be put on hold, as all the pieces fell into Harry's lap one late evening.

It was by complete accident as Harry was contemplating his year in the late hours of the night when he suddenly had a horrible realization. Back in January the young man had helped Hagrid smuggle a dragon out of the castle with the help of his Gryffindor friends. However a few important questions seem to come to mind at the late hours of the night. One, how did Hagrid someone who had always wanted a dragon just so happen to stumble upon one in a card game? Two, how did the Wraith know just when the boys were going to smuggling the dragon out of the castle.

These were all questions that Harry approached Hagrid with, just a few days before the final matches were to take place. When Hagrid had told him about the stranger in the pub, Harry's alarm bells were ringing. It was then when he realized that Quirrel had more than likely hoodwinked Hagrid with alcohol to tell him about the three headed dog on the third floor. If what his mom had told him was true, then that would be the only serious obstacle that no one could easily pass to get to the stone.

In these moments Harry quickly ran to the Headmasters office in desperate attempt to reach out to him, and just inform him of what he knew, but when the gargoyle informed him that the headmaster's office was closed since he had left the castle earlier that morning, Harry suddenly had a horrible theory as to why all of this had come to mind.

At breakneck speeds Harry ran down to Professor Snape's dungeon classroom and barged straight in without the slightest thought of consequence, "Professor!"

Snape was standing in front of his classroom with his own housemates, and the Ravenclaw contingent of fifth year students. Snape barked out, "Potter! What exactly are you doing interrupting my class? You better have something good or mark my words, you will be in detention for a month when we come back to school!"

Harry was taking deep breaths, as he knew he could not just announce his theory to the class, "Professor there are three things in life that cannot long be hidden."

This was a mantra that Harry had been taught when learned Occulemency and meditation, but it was also used when Harry was distressed from a legillmency attack, he could only hope however Snape would be able to convert what he had said into the emergency he found himself in.

Snape was thankfully quick to catch on, "Come back to my office Potter. Your riddle has me rather perplexed. Class continue with your potions, and watch the class dunderheads while I deal with Mr. Potter."

The mans cape billowed behind him as he quickly strolled into his office with Harry quick on his heels. The moment the privacy ward was up, Harry knew he better start talking quickly if he valued his life, "Professor, Dumbledore has left the castle. I have a horrible theory, but I need you to check my shields first. It will give credence to what I am about to propose."

Snape didn't even wait to cast a Legillmency probe, and Harry felt the presence of the man's magic in his mind. As he closed his eyes to see what the potions Master saw he nearly swore out loud when he realized he was right. Last night when he put the pieces together from his stray thoughts it was because his mind was wandering. When his shields were fully operational his mind was always focused. Yet when he couldn't sleep last night, and was able to puzzle things together into a nice pretty picture, it all made scary sense. The darkness had returned to the castle, just as Dumbledore was preparing to leave. When Snape exited his mind he frowned, "I fail to see the significance as to why your shields are cracking again. The dark magic is still lingering within the castle."

Harry shook his head, "No sir. The darkness had left the castle for nearly two months. I've been off the potion. You and the headmaster had become so adept at dodging and avoiding the presence you didn't notice when it left, because it nearly had no effect on you. After a while though the potion was making me sick, so I knew its effects were no longer necessary. Last night though when my mind started wandering I had the horrible feeling that we had all missed some vitally important information. Professor back in January Hagrid and I, with help of some of the other students smuggled a dragon, __his__ dragon, out of the castle. That night we encountered the wraith, but that isn't the important event in this time line. Last night I began to question exactly who Hagrid who had always wanted a dragon just so happen to come across a dragon egg in a card game. When I added it all up, it was obvious. Quirrel had managed to give Hagrid the dragon egg after he spoke about the other animals he had been raising. It was a simple trick, while Quirrel had nothing to lose other than a dragon egg."

Snape paled as he to had now seen the picture, "With the headmaster out of the castle, and Quirrel knowing exactly how to get past the first and most difficult task-"

"He will easily be able to sidestep the others to get the stone." Harry finished.

Snape seemed to focus for a few moments, before casting his patronus, "Minerva. Lock down the castle. The stone is going to be compromised."

The doe like creature that shot from his wand quickly darted off, but Harry had one more question to ask, "But sir, one thing I don't understand is, how did Quirrel know Dumbledore was going to leave the castle. To what my mum had told me, he normally doesn't even tell the staff when he leaves."

Snape looked at the boy in disbelief, "Potter have you not been keeping up with the prophet recently?"

Harry shrugged, "I normally do my best not to!"

Quickly explaining himself the potions master exclaimed, "The Wizengamot is in session today, so do you realize who else will not be here?"

Not being able to bite it back this time the young man swore to himself, "My mother. As Lady Potter she would be duty bound to attend no matter the circumstances."

Taking a deep breath the professor explained, "We are also short staffed today, because Fillius is out on a field trip with his NEWT students, we have dug our own graves. You go back to your common room, and stay there until I or Minerva personally come for you. Only your head of house has expressed permission to remove you otherwise."

Harry nodded his head, but then he dared to ask the next question with concerned lased in his voice, "What are you going to do Professor?"

Already heading out the door Snape called back, "Someone has to stop that creature from regaining power, and it is going to have to be me."

Quickly following in pursuit of his mentor he exclaimed, "But with Mcgonagall trying to get the students to safety, who will watch your back?"

As he was about to open the door to his classroom he stopped, "I will watch out for myself Potter, I always have."

Protesting quickly Harry spoke, "Let me go with you. I can give you cover, while you deal with Quirrel."

Snape sneered, "Its way to dangerous for a first year, besides your parents would bury me tomorrow if something were to happen to you."

Countering back, "If you are killed by Quirrel then there won't be anything left to bury... If I can follow you under my dads invisibility cloak Quirrel won't even know I am there. I won't even need to do anything, I can only join in if things are going south. We would have the element of surprise...You don't have to do this alone professor. I owe you a lot thanks to all my training, let me show you that your skill and time has not been for nothing."

As Snape seemed to contemplate his options, he relented after only a few moments, "You will remain under that invisibility cloak until the point where I am breathing my last few breaths is that understood? I know each trap rather well, and with you behind me I suspect you to do exactly as I say."

"Of course Professor."

The two locked eyes for a moment, before the potions Master squirmed a bit, "Your mother is not going to let me see the light of day after this."

"If Quirrel gets that stone none of us would see too many more lights of the day ever again."

Having agreed on that matter Snape exit his private office, and quickly told his students to banish their potions, and that they would all be given their current grade in the class on the current assignment. Not much complaint was given, as the houses quickly filed out. Harry already knew the rumor mill would be circulating by morning, but he could only hope that he would be hearing those rumors the following morning. As Harry followed his mentor out of the dungeons, Darrel was waiting on him, "Harry what the devil is going on?"

Stopping behind Snape's steps he quickly gave a brief explanation, "No time, get to the common rooms and protect our friends. I am going with Snape to end this. He is going to need my...lets call it mode of stealth to take down our enemy. Be careful Darrel, and if things go poorly tonight, thanks for everything."

Before the fifth year Hufflepuff could protest or even bid a goodbye, Harry sped off towards his mentor in hopes that he hadn't lost the man.

They were on the third floor corridor in moments, and when Snape opened the door with not a seconds hesitation he scowled as music was being played, "Quirrel has already gone for it. We can only hope we aren't to late. Put on the cloak Potter."

Harry quickly did as he was told, and watched as the young man opened the trap door and dove down into it. Without even thinking of the consequences the green eyed boy dove after him, and landed on something rather soft. Snape spoke quietly, "Devil's Snare. Prepare a cushioning charm we are going to fall after I remove it all."

Knowing better than to speak he braced himself for the fall, as his mentor created artificial sunlight which burnt up the devil's snare and took them to the next floor.

The next room surprised and confused Harry, while Snape stared in confusion, "This was not a room originally. Its been changed."

Above the duo was several sets of flying keys, and off to the nearby side was a broomstick. Severus commanded, "Take off the cloak Potter, it seems your assistance is going to be more important than I foresaw. Originally the room hosted a random set of house hold objects that needed to be specifically charmed depending on the item. The charms were random so only one of the staff would know how to get to it. The headmaster in his infinite wisdom must have changed it and not told us. Clever, but now counter productive. I can fly just fine without a broom, but the enchantments in the air make it to where the true key will only appear if someone is riding that particular broom. If we had time we could likely remove the enchantments, however time is of the essence. I will need you to grab the correct key."

Harry nodded approaching the broomstick with no haste, "How will I know which key it is?"

Grimacing the young man responded, "I dare say it will be obvious once you mount the broom."

Deciding not to question the man Harry climbed onto the broom, and the second he did the keys were coming at him like angry bees. Being forced to make a steep climb with hundreds of broken little keys after you was not exactly an ideal situation, but after nearly a minute of evading he realized one key was not pursuing him at all.

With the seeker like reflexes he had grown up with he quickly chased down the one winged key and captured it with ease. The next difficult part was to throw it down to Professor Snape while he avoided the seemingly carnivorous predators that were in the air with him. On the final stretch the green eyed boy weaved through the door panel and heard it slam behind him with definitive cracks following shortly after him.

Heaving for breath Harry was hunched over, but his blood was pumping with adrenaline. Severus only commented in passing, "That was some superb flying Potter, if you were in my house I likely would've awarded you points for such a task."

Rolling his eyes at the bat like teacher he followed the man onto what looked like the remains of a chess board. He only called it remains, because while their side had all of its pieces, it seemed like the opponents side was destroyed with extreme prejudice. Not a single pawn was left standing. Grimacing the man claimed, "Minerva's and Quirrels traps were the only ones that were not self regenerating. I am sure our local transfiguration professor will be furious to know someone destroyed her invention."

Not knowing how the dark man was able to make jokes at a time like this, the two strode across the floor and entered the next room. The following room was as big of a shock as the key room, but not in the same way. This shock was more disgust as a giant troll was lying face up with two giant slashes on his chest. Blood was pooled on the floor, as Snape just dragged his youngest student away from the massacre, and into what Harry would thought would be the final room. With no stone in site, and only a table with a couple of vials on it, he realized that this trial must have been Snapes.

With no haste the potions Professor grabbed the third bottle from the right and took a swig as he handed his young apprentice the same bottle he quickly swallowed the icy liquid. It was at this point Severus turned to his youngest pupil, "The next room is where Quirrel will be if he is still around. Put the cloak on, and remember what I have told you."

Nodding quietly Harry slipped his family invisibility cloak back on, and descended into the darkness with his mentor.

As he entered the room he knew this was Dumbledore's last test. It was a simple room, square shaped, with nothing extravagant or noticeable about it. In fact Harry could only point out two peculiar things about the whole scenario. One was that there was a mirror in the middle of the room, a familiar mirror in matter of fact. The second thing was the fact that a man with a purple turban was standing in front of the mirror staring at it with hungry eyes, "Ah Severus. I was wondering who would be joining me down here. I am glad it was you however, as I fear that I have not figured out Dumbledore's test. I see myself with the stone in the mirror, but how do I get it?"

Harry saw Snape's wand slip into his hand, and his back hand motioned for him to go left along the wall. Severus Snape was many things in this life, but a fool was never one of them, " If you put your hands up you stuttering idiot, I promise I won't kill you. Merely turn you over to the headmaster, I am sure he is just dying for a conversation on just what changed you over the Summer."

Quirrel never turned to face Snape, as if he wasn't even a threat, but he did address him properly, "Severus, you of all people should know what I went through over the Summer. I witnessed great and terrible power, and just like many before me I bowed before it. Our Master is back on the rise, and with the stone I will be able to revive him. Help me, and I will be sure to remind him of just whose side your on. I know after the past few years he has been suspicious, but we can together ease those fears, just help me get the stone."

Responding silkily the pale man responded, "Funny you should mention loyalty Quirinus, the Dark Lord was never forced to question mine, as I remained a loyal spy for him at Hogwarts. Leaking him secrets from Order meetings, to the great prophesy that ultimately led to his downfall. Don't be a cynic you fool, the Dark Lord is dead, and he will never return beyond what he is now."

The turban snake faced man merely laughed, "You have no idea of just what this Stone has to offer. You never were much of a dreamer the Dark Lord tells me. Now we have two options. One you hand me the stone, or two I kill you. It is your choice to decide."

Snape and Harry's jaws both dropped. Did Quirrel really just threaten Snape without any back up? Everyone knew that the potions master was probably the third of fourth most powerful Wizard in England, especially in dueling prowess. To openly duel him without the help of the wraith that Harry was sure would be here, would be suicide.

However that didn't stop Severus from stepping forward and flinging his signature dark spell that he had invented as a young man, Sectumsempra. Thinking the man was done for, the oldest Potter scion turned his head away not wishing to see the light leave the man's eyes. However he was wrong to do so, as suddenly he heard the familiar noise of heavy spell fire being exchanged. When he looked back to the two men in front of him, he would've never believed the story if he hadn't seen it with his own two eyes. The idiot and boy wonder known as Quirnius Quirrell was dueling Severus Snape to a stand still. It wasn't even long before Quirrell started flinging killing curses towards the man, but when Snape disarmed the man, they all heard a violent scream shake the cavern.

It happened just before Snape could strike the dunderhead down, and a humanoid like creature began walking towards the middle ground of where the professors had been fighting. The Dark Lord's wraith looked almost human now. The body was right, but the face was still warped, almost as if he was a burn victim, that lost all the pigment color in his skin, making him a deathly white, "Enough of this fighting. Severus...It has been far to long."

Harry stared in horror as he heard the voice from his nightmares. It was almost as if nothing had changed from that night ten years ago. The man still held that tone of absolute power, and fear, "Is that you my lord?"

Snape was now walking slowly and hypnotically towards the Dark Lord, as Quirrell was now smirking towards his opponent. When Snape was close enough however he managed to lift his wand and blast Quirrel off his feet and knocked him out cold with some type of stunner, while he attempted to repel the wraith that was controlling magic in its most raw form. It wasn't long before Snape was over run and leaning back against a pillar, with no where else to go. The Dark Lord spoke quietly, "It seems I have lost a faithful servant out of you Severus. That is most disappointing, and rather...annoying."

With a flick of the man's hand Snape was grunting in agonizing pain. Harry wasn't sure how it was happening, but he knew the man that he had actually looked up for a long time was being held under the cruciatas curse. It was held that way for a minute before, Harry couldn't take it anymore. Like a panicked animal, he lashed out towards the wraith, with his hands out as if he were to tackle the demon.

He wasn't sure at the time who was more surprised, the Dark Lord or Harry that he had actually made contact with the man. Unfortunately with a wave of the man's hand the green eyed boy was flying backwards, and had lost his cloak of invisibility while he was in air.

As the wraith chuckled in the cliché villain tone, Harry cringed as he was approached by the darkest wizard in centuries, "Harry Potter! The boy who lived. What an interesting development! I must say I have lived many years, and I do not take much pleasure in the little things, but this is truly a historic occasion, that I find myself relishing in."

Feeling braver than he actually was the oldest Potter scion spat, "You just keep relishing while I figure out just what I am going to send you back to the other side with."

The Dark Lord genuinely laughed at the boys statement, "Still no respect for your betters. All you Potter's are the same. Defiling your ancient line with Mudbloods and other dark creatures, has made you all grow soft, and weak. Crucio!"

As Harry felt a wave of pain wash over him, he now knew that before now he did not truly understand the meaning of pain. The creature before him was no wraith. It may have looked and walked like a dark creature of the dead, but the power of that spell could not come from something that was beyond the grave. When the curse lifted Harry coughed in pain, "What are you?"

"Why I am your past, your present, and future. I am the most powerful Wizard to ever live. However you can just call me Lord Voldemort."

Harry coughed as he stood to his feet, "What do you want? The stone? If your already alive, what do you want with it?"

The Dark Lord merely grunted, "That concept is far to complex for your insignificant mind. Before I kill you though, I want no questions left between us, for I am truly a merciful lord. At the current moment I stand at a power just between a wraith and a immortal. I have collected everything necessary, unicorn blood, unicorn heart string, and even a soul fragment that I had once lost. I believe you over heard Quirnius and I speaking of the Horcrux, but that is neither here nor there. It is time to die Mr. Potter."

The way the Dark Lord ended his sentence, he sounded almost disappointed. Standing there frozen in fear, Harry wasn't sure just what type of magic you fought a wraith with, and was prepared to embrace death, just like his ancestors before him though, he wasn't going to go down without a fight. With a shaky hand he raised his wand and prepared to make his final stand. Two words were uttered from a short distance away, and a green light filled the room and struck Quirnius Quirrell dead, which would be the last move Severus Snape would ever take. With a flick of the Dark Lord's hand, Severus Snape throat started bleeding profusely. Before the man closed his eyes he attempted to cry words that sounded like, "The stone!"

With a cry of rage Harry surged forward throwing blasting hexes with one hundred percent power and to his ultimate surprise the Dark Lord had drawn a wand, and was being forced to shield. That didn't last long however as Voldemort began fighting back. It didn't take long at all for Harry to be forced backwards to a wall, where he couldn't move any longer, his only hope was his shields at this point.

Time seemed to slow as Harry saw a shield breaker come in his direction. He couldn't move his arms enough to cast a counter though, this was it. The moment the shield breaker hit his shield the obvious happened, but the next was not something he would've expected from a dark lord, it was a disarming spell.

Next however, was when the unthinkable happened. As the man who was once named Tom Riddle marched over to him, he was blasted off his feet, with astounding speed, and he heard a familiar voice call out, "Accio Harry's wand!"

Suddenly a young man was at his side smiling at him, "You dropped this mate! I thought I told you not to have to much fun without me!"

Harry wanted to cry as his best friend was now at his side. Neville Longbottom in his dueling robes was standing with pride and his wand drawn. The wraith was getting to his feet in a rage, while Neville told him, "Its a dark creature Harry, we are going to have to cast a Patronus. Its our best shot. I stood back as long as I could, but I feared if I waited any longer you'd be killed. I heard everything though, if this doesn't work then the Potter's and Longbottoms are going to die together once again!"

Laughing maniacally at the foolish Gryffindor antics, he growled, "Lets send this bastard back to the gates of hell."

Before the Dark Lord could strike either of the boys blinding white lights filled the chamber. The power of friendship was going to prevail in this one situation, and screams of agony could be heard on the other side of the solid white pulses that were joining together, to form a massive pulse, but when the lights were dying down the wraith was still in tact. The boys eyes widened as they saw green coming in their directions and forcing them to dive out of the way.

Instead of panicking though, both boys understood what this meant. They were going to die, and as they had been trained since they could walk, they weren't going to go down without a fight. As one the two attacked with a ferocity never before seen in two so young. The death of Neville's father was on his mind, while Harry's mind was thinking of what would happen if he allowed this creature to escape. It was in that moment he felt something appear in his pocket. Harry looked to his left and noticed he was looking at himself in the mirror, but instead of his reflection matching what he was doing it was showing him just what had appeared in his hands. His reflection then gave him a smile and a nod, as if telling him that everything was going to be okay.

Remembering Snape's final words he screamed to his friends, "Leave it all on the line Neville, I have to get close!"

Not waiting for a response Harry charged forward to the dark creature, and pulled the stone out and scraped both his hands with it as he was in motion, and in moments he was on the Dark Lord and slamming his face with the young man's palms. The effect was instant, but he felt the familiar agonizing pain, and screamed, but did not taking his hands off the now dissolving wraith. With a massive scream, and a brief sigh of relief from Harry the creature shot through the ceiling and disappeared.

Harry laid on the floor shaking in pain, but he soon felt the arms of his best friend embrace him telling him it was going to be okay. After what felt like an eternity of crying, Harry crawled out of his friends arms, and dragged himself over to the dead potions master. He checked for a pulse, but he should've known better. He was no stranger to death, but this was the first time he had lost someone so close to him. He felt a buildup in chest where he felt nothing, but pain. With a heart wrenching scream the young man wrapped his little arms around the man's neck crying, and sobbing in a rage. No one would've believed it twenty years earlier, but here was a Potter crying over Severus Snape's demise. It was the most internal pain Harry had ever felt, and the last thing he remembered was having the darkness embrace him.

****(A/N) Alright that was some pretty steep stuff right there. The next chapter will end the year. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far, and I hope we can continue to move up on the charts! Pop me a review, and I might pop a chapter sometime this week! Cheers, and may our slippery friend rest in peace!****


	19. Grieving and Living On

****Chapter 19****

The school was in mourning. Over the next week, exams had been postponed, and all activities had been as well. News of what happened in the chamber was around the school within twenty four hours of Quirrel and Snape's death. Neville and Harry were being regarded as heroes for standing up to a corrupted Quirrel, and the true events of battle were never to be revealed. Amelia Bones had showed up the day the story hit the press, and demanded the truth though. Dumbledore wanted to keep her in the dark, but Harry wasn't in the mood for games when she came asking him for the truth. By the end of his story, Amelia promised Harry that Snape would be awarded Order of Merlin Second Class for bravery and defiance of a "Rising Dark Lord." Harry found this ironic, because it was truer than anyone would ever realize. Together the three of them had stopped a Dark Lord's Rising, and for at least a short while prevented another war. When she had asked Harry if him, and Neville wished to be honored he immediately turned her down, wanting his professor to get the final honor.

Neville and Harry had spent a lot of time together over the week of mourning, but few words were ever said. Having never been close to Snape, Neville didn't share the same grieving, but accepted the fact that he died a hero, and praised him for that in public. In private the young man thought that Snape was just a death eater that was forced to meet a sticky end, due to his dark past, but these words would never be spoken to his best friend.

Harry was in a state of depression. He hadn't been good enough to save his mentor from certain death, and while he was mature for his age, he was unable to not blame himself for what had happened. Lily and James Potter talked about pulling their son out early for the Summer, but he adamantly refused claiming that he had to finish his season for Hufflepuff, and that they were still counting on him.

The Potions exams were going to be graded pretty liberally due to the fact that all the students had lost their potions master, and head of house in Slytherin's case. In place of the class a free period had taken its place, as the year was almost over. The Defense class however was being covered by Dumbledore, as he obviously claimed sufficient at the subject.

Speaking of Dumbledore he had called Harry into his office the day after the events, and told him that Snape had actually left him and his mom every physical possession, while all the monetary things went to his Godson Draco Malfoy. Draco would also inherit all of his personal properties, but would not inherit anything inside of them according to the Will that was read in the Headmasters office. With the Will having been put into effect Immediately Harry stood to gain a lot of things that were waiting for him at Potter manor.

The green eyed boy found himself sitting in the empty Dungeons classroom quite a bit after hours. He wasn't sleeping very well, his appetite was never around, and he could not find it in himself to let go of the man he respected so much.

The last day of mourning was going to be the memorial service for the students and staff to attend, and then his body would be sent back with Malfoy's to bury him elsewhere. On that day the majority of the student body had gathered out by the black lake, and speeches were given, and people from the Ministry were there, but the real surprise was when Eileen Prince showed up. The good professor rarely spoke of his family, and Harry had assumed the women was dead, but there she was on Dumbledore's arms, with the black veil over her face, covering up any tears that may have befallen the women.

Around the end of the speech Dumbledore came over and asked if Harry wanted to say a few words after his mom did, and the young man steeled his nerves and agreed to say something. As he stood before the crowd of hundreds he ran a smooth hand through his hair and began speaking from the heart. For some people this had been the first time they had seen Harry speak since the events in the lower chambers of the school, "Professor Snape...Severus Snape, the man I knew was Severus Snape, not Professor Snape. When I was very little this darkly dressed man entered my life, and of course as a Potter I was criticized by the old bat." This caused some chuckles, from the older crowd who had known the infamous Snape and Potter rivalry, but Harry hardly acknowledged the crowd, he was staring straight out at the coffin that held his mentor, "He told me I was weak, and arrogant, that I was only ever going to be a shadow of my fame. Real peachy character I tell you what. Then a day came though, and I had to prove to this stone hearted man that I was not just my father's son, but my mothers as well. My mom and Professor Snape grew up very good friends, and when the time came, I was able to show him that I was just as much an Evans as I was a Potter. On that day I was in immense pain from learning Occulmency in the hardest form, but I refused to quit, and on that day a connection was created between myself and Severus Snape. Over the next few years this man would teach me many things, and I always knew I could confide and trust him. Some people doubted my trust in the man, because of his past, but I am here to tell you the Severus Snape that lies before me was a good man. He wasn't perfect, and he expected a lot of his students, and me his apprentice of sorts, but he pushed us to be better witches and wizards, and it is because of him that I hope to one day reach goals he had set for me. Expectations that he pushed me to achieve. Because the only reason that I am still standing here today was because of Serverus Snape."

Harry had more to say, and he knew he had everyone's attention, even the reporters were taking furious notes over what he was saying, and he knew he had to be careful, "Down in the chamber, where Quirrel, Professor Snape, myself, and Neville were fighting he sacrificed his life to give us a chance to take the man down. I know in my heart that Severus knew what would happen when he did what he did, but he did it anyways. Any debt that may have been between the Potter and Snape family is completely even, and any questions of where his loyalties truly lied were answered. The wizarding world has lost an astounding man, teacher, mentor, brother, and friend, and I will miss him."

Fighting back the tears Harry stepped down from the platform and put a hand on the man's coffin. His heart aching painfully. Without turning back Harry began to walk back to where his mother was standing. Lily Potter was usually a bombshell among even the most beautiful women in the wizarding society, but on this day she looked only a fragment of herself. Through the veil of her hat Harry could tell her eyes were very red, and that the women had been crying a lot at the loss of her best friend. James Potter had a comforting arm around her as he went up and spoke for both of them.

He talked of the rivalry the two had growing up, and even the extremities of what it had grown into. Then he talked about his mom's friendship with Snape, and the goods and bads that came out of it. He moved on to praise the man and even joke about how the man might be twitching in his coffin knowing two Potter's had spoken at his funeral, and lastly he thanked the man for saving Harry's life. Dumbledore didn't say much more than anyone else, but talked about how great second chances were, and that Severus Snape was a prime example of what one can do with a second chance and redemption was possible for anyone.

At the end of Dumbledore's speech the crowd was sent away, and the families were left to grieve and the students to prepare for the last few events of the year.

As Harry was heading back to the castle he felt a hand go on his arm tightly as he heard a feminine voice, "Mr. Potter can I have a few words with you please?"

Turning to see an elderly women, he recognized to be Eileen Prince, he nodded, and followed the women as she began walking the grounds. Silence enveloped between the two, and while Harry thought it uncomfortable, the other women didn't seem to mind the company, "You and Lily were his pride and joy you know? You were the pride, while Lily was the joy. It started about five years ago, when my son came to visit me. We talked about recent events in our lives, and then he began telling me about a young man who was going to be destined for great things. He never named you specifically, and for a long time I thought he meant some student he taught at school, but when you spoke at his memorial service, I knew I was mistaken. I expected older, and to be frank, anything, but a Potter."

Nodding his head Harry followed the older women in silence. Knowing the women was obviously accustom to the fact that Potter's and Snape's didn't typically get along, he knew there was no reason to comment. She however felt the need to continue, "He left you many things, and your right about what you said, he does expect certain things from you. Some of which will be highlighted in this."

She pulled an envelope from her coat and handed him the small package, "He explicitly told me to give you this personally in the event of his death. Severus was always secretive, and he still didn't mention your name, but said when the time came I would know. I hope I am not mistaken, and that the words in this unwritten letter will be both enlightening and instructional."

Harry never got to say a word, and the women turned and walked towards the exit point of the ground, but before she got out of site she turned to him and asked him a question, "My son always knew what was right and wrong. If you trusted him as much as you said you did, then I request you take his words in very closely. You were the only person my son left written acknowledgments to, was he happy?"

The young man was ready to retort a standard reply, but he realized this was his mentors mother. The person who probably knew Severus better than anyone. For the Greater Good he should say yes, but would this white lie really help Eileen Prince? Would it really make her feel better? Deciding to answer honestly Harry responded, "I think the man I knew will be happier in the next Great Adventure. He had been trying very hard to atone for his sins, and I don't think he really had much time to live. I'm sorry Ms. Prince, but I think your son was a busy man, and did not have the time to find the happiness he deserved."

Harry felt guilty for giving the brutal truth, but the women smiled at him sadly, "There is no longer any doubts. Severus did good work with you, and when the time comes I am sure you will know what to do."

With no words left to be said Eileen walked out of the Potter's life, as if she had never been there before.

Looking around Harry seemed to be alone, and opened the envelope. At first the parchment was empty, but then Harry remembered a special revealing charm Snape had cleverly coined and spoke softly, "Reveal your secrets."

When his wand touched the paper, a familiar writing scrawl appeared, and the young man read carefully:

__Harry,__

__First I must apologize. For if I had continued on my current ways then mostly I had always referred to you by your last name. At this point in our relationship I hope you think of me as more than just your professor, and more as your mentor, as I think of you as my apprentice. If you are reading this letter, and you may be 14 or 30, it means I have finally seen the expiration of my life. I can only hope I went on my own terms, and wasn't tortured to death by the Dark Lord. Either way I know for a fact I never revealed our secrets. To give you a brief time line I wrote this after I informed you of the certain object we discussed over Christmas. I did this to ensure you knew that while I find you to be incredibly competent for a Potter, whatever you are doing will not be enough to defeat the Dark Lord.__

__It is because I say this, that Gringotts has emptied my personal notes on spell casting and potion making in your TRUST vault. This will be undetectable by everyone except you and I. Some of the spells I have left you are not the friendliest, but the Dark Lord is playing for keeps, and I want you to be standing at the end of this war, and that means sometimes you aren't always going to be able to stun your enemies. Now if you've already won the war, then I offer my congratulations, and hopes that you live a long and prosperous life. But if it is as I fear, and the war is coming to our doorsteps much faster than we anticipated I wish for you to be ready__

__I don't know how to say what I need to say next. I was never able to say it to her, and I don't know how I will say it to her son. That being said, I will just say this. You have more talent and perseverance in your pinky then most do in their entire body, never let that fail you Harry. While part of me still sees the little boy that was whimpering in pain from the constant legillmens attack, I know now that you are a competent young wizard. I wish you the best in this life, or the next. I am sorry I was not able to help you win the war, but I hope if I went, I went saving someone's life or protecting valuable information.__

__Never forget the path we started on. Never forget the sins of your friends and family, its what makes them who they are,__

__Forever in service to Lily Evans, and those that remind me of her,__

__Severus Snape__

Harry didn't have words, only tears. He couldn't break down here or now though, because he must remember his good mentors teachings. For now he would remain strong.

The week passed and the quidditch match was upon them. The game had been going for only a few minutes, and for the first time all year the Hufflepuff offense had been shutdown. With Oliver Wood playing Keeper, and the golden trio playing chasers, the one minded Fred and George Weasley, then Neville on Seeker, the team was stacked.

The current score was 70-50 with Hufflepuff trailing Gryffindor. Around the thirty minute mark Cedric called a timeout, and questioned rapidly, "What's going on out there? I know we have the Cup in the bag, but come on! We have an undefeated record to uphold. Everyone take a deep breath. We are the superior team, in every position, we have to act like it though. Come on we fight!"

It seemed like the team half-heartedly called back the response, and when they took the field Heidi inbound the ball to Maclolm who shot off towards Oliver Wood with a purpose, and when he got within a few feet of the tall boy, he tossed the ball backwards with lightning speed and Harry caught the ball slamming it into the bottom left goal making the game a one possession game.

Looking at the young Gryffindor keeper Harry could tell the boy was furious that six goals had been scored on him, but the young green eyed boy merely smirked as if saying 'the first of many.

When Katie Bell inbound the ball towards Alicia Spinnet, Heidi was all over it, taking the ball and dropping it where Harry once again came from no where and twirled the ball in a magical angle allowing two consecutive goals. Wood was yelling at his players, while the Hufflepuff contingent was brought back to life with cheers.

Over the next few minutes Hufflepuff would score six goals, holding Gryffindor to two. When Wood called his team to a timeout, the Hufflepuff team could hear his shouts. Cedric however was grinning, "Now that is what I am talking about! Were up four goals, and Neville is being forced to try and disrupt our plays. Its going to come down to me catching the snitch, but whatever happens we are the champions today!"

With those inspirational words Harry would put together another five goals up, and Heidi would nearly match him with four. Malcolm however took a bludger to face, and was forced to sit out the rest of the game, while Harry and Heidi were getting bombarded by the Gryffindor. At one point the badgers had taken an eight goal lead, making it 190-110, but that was quickly about to change.

Over the next half an hour Harry and Heidi did their best. They managed to score another six goals, but Gryffidnor responded with twelve. The beaters were hammering the beautifully red dressed chasers, but it was futile. The match seemed to stop however, when the Crowd was roaring, and Harry had the ball and stopped to see Neville and Cedric neck and neck for the snitch, and Harry knew the boys were about to do something desperate so he quickly tossed the ball to Heidi and flew at the boys in hope to prevent them from doing stupid, but when the snitch dived, Neville did the sloth roll in attempt to catch the ball, but when the snitch zoomed to the left Cedric practically leaped on the snitch effectively ending the game. The final score was 390-230.

The crowds were on their feet for a standard ovation, and Dumbledore, Madame Hooche, and Professor Sprout were all standing in the center of the field, and the students were rushing to storm the field, while the players were landing nearby screaming in excitement, and embracing in a huge group hug, This was the first time in twenty years that Hufflepuff had won the cup.

At some point a blonde bombshell grabbed Harry by the front of his shirt and smashed her lips to his for a few seconds before releasing him, while the guys were going crazy in response. Looking questioningly at the girl she shrugged, "I told you if you scored nine goals against Oliver Wood then I would give you more than a hug!"

Grinning stupidly Harry nodded and continued with his excitement and the team was pounding him on the back in congratulations. For the kiss or the victory he wasn't really sure, but it didn't honestly matter in that moment. Memories of the hard work he had put into the game flashed through his mind, and in this moment it was all worth it. He looked over to his friends embracing them tightly. Hannah and Susan were in his arms the longest as they all bounced around, and even a bro hug came from his friend Ernie, while Darrel and Cedric embraced the younger boy as well. After that Dumbledore announced to the crowd, "With a 3-0 perfect season Hufflepuff wins the Quidditch Cup, congratulations are in order for Professor Sprout and her astounding young men and women who fought to the last minute of the game. Well done, and once again congratulations."

The house roared in approval as Professor Sprout lifted the cup above her head, and when she handed the trophy to Cedric, you couldn't have heard a shout in your ear due to the stadium volume, particularly the female sections of the crowd. Then the trophy was handed to each player, but when Madame Hooche walked out she had two smaller trophies in her hands, "This year's MVP and Rookie of the Year both belong to our House Champions. The MVP is the undefeated seeker CEDRIC DIGGORY!"

No surprise there, but for some reason this just started a riot among the Hufflepuff students, whom had not had an MVP player in a long time. He embraced each of his teammates individually and when he got to Harry he whispered, "Its you man, no doubt, I think they would've given you both if possible, congratulations."

When the boys separated Harry couldn't help, but give his older friend a blinding smile, and when Madame Hooche began speaking his stomach turned with nerves, "This year we had some astounding rookies, but this young Rookie played the Chaser Position and scored over 400 points, setting a Hogwarts record..."

The crowd took up a chant before she even said the name, "POTTER! POTTER! POTTER!"

It was almost pointless when Madame Hooche roared out over the crowd, "HARRY POTTER!"

The chant continued and when Harry went up and took his trophy, he felt Darrel and Cedric pick him and hoist him on their shoulders, and the crowd continue to change the chants between 'Hufflepuff, Diggory, and Potter'.

At some point Harry caught sight of his parents who looked ten foot tall, and his brother and sister who were waving madly at their older brother. He pointed his trophy at them while he was on their shoulders, and the two jumped up and down in excitement, and the groups took off towards the locker room, and prepared for the insane parties that would follow.

The next day was the first set of dueling matches, which now Harry was the fifth seed, and didn't get his final match until tomorrow. So he spectated the matches to see how Heidi, and Darrel held up, and it honestly turned out very close. Fred and George Weasley turned out to be quite crafty with their wands, and prank magic, which through off their opponents. However when Heidi came out she took both of them down, and Lee Jordan, but when seventh year Angus Matlock came out from the first seed he took down Heidi with relative ease. The best duel of the year would follow when Darrel and Angus locked wands and ended with an astounding upset, and probably locking Darrel in for the duelist of the year award.

The following day the final dueling match was taking place, and the whole school had turned out to see Hufflepuff get crowned, and possibly pull off the first undefeated sports season in over a century. With Cedric, Tonks, and Harry in today's match the whole team felt pretty confident, but Harry knew it was a most likely scenario that he would end up locking wands with his best friend. It wasn't long before Malcolm ended up getting knocked off by the only other first year dueling player in Hogwarts, and Dumbledore was calling his golden boy to the stands to fight.

When Harry stepped onto the platform he walked the length of it where he was then a few feet from Neville Longbottom. Dumbledore then announced, "Fifth seed Potter, Vs. Fifth seed Longbottom. Duelers face each other bow."

Harry did so, and so did Neville, and the bows were clearly one showing trust, as for even a moment they took their eyes off of each other. When they stood back up to face each other, Harry held a hand towards Dumbledore for a pause and he took a step forward, and Neville did as well. Surely someone in the crowd thought the two were going to hug, but instead they both clenched the others arms, while Harry spoke, "You know I'd never take my wand to you in violence, but I am fighting to win, Longbottom good luck."

Neville retorted back, "Your going down Potter, and I'll be taking the rookie of the year trophy with me!"

The boys grinned at each other, and without command bowed to Dumbledore, before they began walking back to their places. The old man's smile was brilliant, as he started counting down, and when zero hit, neither moved. Harry then called out, "Ladies first!"

Neville growled and shot forward with a flurry of spells. It took only a moment, and the crowd was amazed at what types of magic these two first years were incorporating into their duels. They fought like demons, with clear intention to take one or the other out, and it was with such speed and finesse the crowd was amazed. Amelia Bones was in that crowd, and throughout the duel she would not see a single wasted wand movement, and wondered if that was going to be her auror departments future directly in front of her eyes. Elsewhere in the stands two mothers, were watching with great concern as their sons battled the other for respect, and power. Others throughout the houses were watching thinking a few things. One being that there was no longer a doubt that these two could've taken an incompetent professor if they were on the same team, and the other was that not even on their stupidest days would they mess with a Longbottom and a Potter together.

The two fighters in the middle however were performing a dance of spells, shields, counters, dodges, weaves, and the occasional swear word when something hit them. After nearly five minutes of straight dueling Harry slipped, and a disarming charm hit him right in the hand. Neville almost cheered aloud, and the crowd was already doing so, but there was some thing the best friend had forgotten, his brother in arms was much more astute in wandless magic than he was. With a flick of his wrist Harry threw a wandless blaster at Neville catching him off guard, and casting a follow up accio to his wand and just bombarded the young man with curses knocking the first year off the platform.

The crowd had gone mostly silent, except a few whom had been screaming Harry's name, namely his siblings. Harry however ran over to his surrogate brother, and helped him to his feet, "I dropped my wand you stopped cursing me? Sirius is going to be having us run suicides until our legs give out!"

Neville groaned, "I think you broke one of my ribs. I got so excited that I had finally beat you, because you lost your footing, and I didn't even think to stun you. Damnit!"

Harry grinned helping his friend up, and the two embraced, and this seemed to bring the crowd out of its funk. This time there were whispers that followed the shouts, but most were impressed, while a few were taking notes.

Harry ran back over to his captain who was shaking his head, "I've never seen someone win a duel after they have been disarmed. That was crazy!"

Grinning at Darrel, Dumbledore then announced, "The Gryffindor captain has initiated the finalist policies. The last duel will be a two on two duel, with Gryffindor needing to knock out three duelist. If Gryffindor can knock out one of Hufflepuff's duelers then the captain will step in. For those unfamiliar with this style, it now retires Mr. Potter, and brings in Mr. Diggory, and Ms. Tonks, while dueling captain Mr. Abbot, will be on stand by if either of his duelist go down. Please step to the stage."

Having never seen this rule enacted Harry felt cheated, but also a little relieved, he was exhausted. This basically meant Gryffindor was desperate and over estimating Harry's abilities. What Gryffindor didn't know was that Darrel and Cedric were an unstoppable dueling team, so if Tonks were to get knocked out they stood no chance.

From Gryffindor Percy Weasley and Oliver Wood, stepped onto the platform. While from the Hufflepuff side, Cedric and Nymphadora took the floor. Dumbledore explained the basic rules of two-on-two duels, and went through the formalities.

The intensity of the duel that followed was insane, and the goals were clear, and foolish. Within three minutes Tonks was knocked out of the duel, as the two had basically teamed up on her only shielding against Cedric, but when Darrel stepped in, the duel was over in the next thirty seconds. In a little under twenty nine seconds Darrel and Cedric took down both duelist, and were embracing each other as Hufflepuff took another victory, and ending the season.

All the players from Hufflepuff and Gryffindor shook hands in a rare display of school spirit, and then they celebrated like crazy! The Hufflepuff's had swarmed the pitch, and it wasn't as loud or exciting as winning the quidditch cup, but the dueling gauntlet was handed to professor Sprout, and she handed it to Darrel to hold over the crowd. Harry noted that every duelist on Hufflepuff won at least one match during the season, so knew everyone deserved to hold up this trophy.

By the time the team was all done holding up the trophy, the MVP and Rookie of the year awards were going out. The Potter chants had never been louder when he received the Rookie of the Year Award, and even when Darrel took the MVP trophy, the crowd was still ecstatic. Over the next half an hour Harry would be congratulated by many Hufflepuff alumni, and embraced by many young men and women recently out of Hogwarts, and happy to see their house finally winning something.

As most of the crowds were dispersing over time, the majority of the team had hung around to hear Darrel's words. With Cedric standing next to him he announced, "Next year things are going to be different. We are going to be losing some of our best duelist, but we are going to welcome new blood to the team, but I hope everyone fights to keep their positions, because today we are champions, and next year I want to be sitting in this same spot, giving the same speech! 6-0 ladies and gentlemen. You guys earned it through the blood we shed, and sweat we spilt. I can not claim any prouder accomplishment then leading you guys to a perfect season, and championship! Tomorrow we all take the train home, and I know some of you won't be able to practice magic over the Summer, so please stay in shape, run, work out, and it will help. I will try and get in touch with everyone in July or early August so we can start preparing for the next season. Well done guys!"

The team politely clapped, and Darrel patted Cedric on the shoulder while the young man stood forward with confidence, "With Herbert being gone next year we are going to need a new keeper, so if anyone is interested please train over the Summer, and come back ready for tryouts. Hufflepuff has a new reputation to uphold, and we have some real upcoming talent, and not just in Harry. Sorry Potter can't let your ego get to big!"

This caused the others to laugh, while Harry pouted, "Its not to late for me to hurt you pretty boy...I mean captain!"

This caused more laughter, and some of the parents who had waited around chuckled, and watched amazed at the great team chemistry. Darrel and Cedric call the team and house members to circle up, and they called out together, "WE FIGHT?"

And everyone around roared out, "TO WIN!"

****(A/N) That is going to conclude year one. The next chapter will go straight into the Summer. There will only be two chapters of Summer, one leading up to Harry's birthday, and the one following it will be what happens after his birthday. I have already written these two chapters out, and I have the next three planned out. Please tell me how I am doing, and leave me some suggestions, because I can always edit some stuff if I see a good idea! Cheers, and thanks for reading!****


	20. A Friend in Need

****Chapter 20****

The train ride home the next day was pretty dull. Draco Malfoy had been very standoffish for the first time against Harry. It would be some time before Harry figured out why, but it should've been obvious. Susan and Hannah were both very excited for the Summer, and a chance to get to spend time with their families a little more. Having gotten to know Susan a little more, Harry knew she was really missing her aunt while away at school, and that the first few weeks of her vacation would be spent over seas on a get away with the head of the auror department.

Hannah however was mostly hanging around with her mom, and catching up on what had been going on in her community back home. Apparently the magical community around there was pretty tight, but most of the kids back there went to different schools instead of Hogwarts, or were just home schooled by family. The youngest Abbot promised to visit Harry when she could, and Susan agreed to the promise to write while she was away.

Darrel and Cedric both had big traveling plans for the Summer, and from Harry understood some of it would be together, and would definitely include lots of magical training. They gave the young man their word that they would write, and even visit upon return. Or if nothing else, they would all be there for his birthday celebration.

Harry's newest friend Ernie had asked if Harry would work with him over the Summer, and even play games of quidditch so that maybe he could try out for keeper in the Fall. This was something Harry was happy to agree to, so that someone could play defender against him, Jack, and Rosalie.

Heidi had not been around on the train, but this was not something Harry thought about or considered at the time. A surprise visit from their housemate Megan Jones though was a pleasant visit where she informed Harry she would be at Potter Manor at some points over the Summer because Lily had promised her mother, Hestia, that the family would watch out for her over a weekend or two. Harry would be glad for some different company, but the rest of his female company seemed to volunteer their days a little to quickly when she would be over. In the green eyed boys mind it was however the more the merrier!

Lastly was Neville. The young Gryffindor was going to be visiting with Longbottom family on the continent for most of the Summer, and told his best friend that he would try not to get to rusty.

When the train let out, the Hufflepuff's all stepped onto the platform, and Harry found his immediate family and gave them all smiles. It obviously hadn't been very long since he had last seen them, so there was no huge need for all the hugs and greetings. As the group headed towards the platform of 9 and 10, Harry threw his arm around his little brother, "The next time you see that train, you will be on it to your first year of Hogwarts! Are you excited?"

Only a little timidly his brother nodded, and stared at the train and students in awe, as if it were the first time he had ever seen it.

On the way out of the platform Harry was introduced to many parents, of his respective friends and teammates, but when Harry saw Heidi trying to leave with an older man rather quickly, he followed her across the threshold not even thinking about everyone else who was watching curiously.

Calling out to his friend over the noise of the crowd he was seeming to lose her, so he ran and grabbed the girls arm lightly and saying her name, "Heidi! Aren't you going to say goodbye? I get a friendly kiss just a few days ago, and now I don't even get a have a good summer?"

The girls eyes flashed towards the man she was with, who was still forging ahead, having not noticed the hold up, "Yeah, sorry Harry of course. Have a good summer. I'll see you around, yeah?"

Harry was no master legillmens, but he could tell something was wrong with his friend. Her occulmency lessons had come along nicely, but they weren't perfect, and right now they looked awful. Before the girl could walk away he gripped her arm, "Heidi are you okay? I didn't see you on the train, and I know the others were looking for you as well."

Once again the girls eyes flashed to the man who was now stopped and look back at the two expectantly. In a sudden panic the girl's eyes widened, and spoke quickly, "Sorry Harry I really have to go. My dad has to be at work soon, and he needs to get me home, and then to work. I'll see you around!"

However it was to late as the man had approached the two with a purpose. The man was rather tall, and seemed fairly built, with a couple of tattoos coming off his arms. Harry could smell the smoke from the fags that the muggles smoke, but when he spoke, the rotten stench caught his senses, "Is there a reason you are keeping my daughter from leaving to the platform, and by extension causing me to be late to work?"

Harry stared at the man oddly, but knew his pureblood manners would not allow him to retort rudely, "My apologies sir. I was just wishing your daughter a good Summer. She is a nice friend of mind, and has looked out for this year. I'm Harry Potter."

Offering the man his hand, the elder Macavoy just stared at the boy in the eyes, "Is she doing you any favors?"

Heidi look horrified at the question, but Harry just looked confused, "Ummm, she helped me recover from a pretty nasty injury, and made sure I stayed safe, while I was unable to defend myself, and she is one of my teammates, if that what you mean?"

The man snorted, "And how exactly would this worthless girl help you stay safe? Just like her mother, the only thing she is good for is...favors."

Now Harry being only eleven years old, was only just now starting to get the nature of these favors, and he didn't like it one bit with the way the man suggested it. Had Sirius Black not been his godfather, this whole conversation would have gone over his head, but the Marauders had raised him, and he knew an innuendo when it was spelled out in front of him, "I think your daughter is actually pretty brave, wicked smart, and powerful. I am sure many boys closer to her age would consider her the whole package in my world, and far above merely seeking the favors you are talking about."

At first the man was surprised someone so young had caught his meaning, but then he merely shook his head, "A slag is a slag, I don't care what world they are from, or how smart they may be."

The man put his hand on his daughter and began forcing her to walk away, and Harry had to do everything he could from drawing his wand. In fact his magic was beginning to swirl off of him in anger.

The wand fell into his hand and he began to point it at the man, when suddenly a hand went on his shoulder, "Relax Pup. I saw it all. From your letters can I assume that was Ms. Macavoy, the Muggle-born you raved on about?"

For a moment, the boy blushed, but his eyes never left his now fifth year friend, "Yeah that's her. If I had any idea her family was so charming, I might have offered up Potter Manor to her. I can't just let them walk away like that!"

Sirius shook his head, "There isn't much we can do prongslet. He may be a muggle, but he is still the girls father. How do you think she would've felt if you had cursed him in the back?"

Growling Harry responded, "I don't know, it depends on how badly she is treated at home. Which if that conversation was any indication, I am guessing it is not very well."

Sirius took a grave look upon his face, "Families can be messy. Why don't you write her a letter tomorrow expressing your concern, and if she tells you its okay, you'll just have to believe her, and maybe gently press her next term. If she truly doesn't want to finish living there, then I am sure your mum and dad would put her up for her last two years. You can't save everyone Harry."

Spitting on the floor, as if he were some type of animal he growled, "I sure as hell can try."

The Summer had not been kind to Harry Potter. The first thing was his concern for his friend Heidi, and the fact that he had not gotten a response to any of his letters to her was beginning to concern him. A month of Summer had passed, and his birthday was around the corner. He had spoken to his godfather about to the problem at least a few times a week, but the man was persistent that he give the girl a bit of space, and focus on his training. That led to his second problem. Once he had some time some time to restart his training with his teachers and mentors from school, he found an odd gap in his heart that for a while he couldn't explain. Each day when he woke up, and wasn't sure who was coming by to tutor him, he couldn't figure out what he was expecting to happen, but when it didn't it left him feeling incomplete. When he described the feeling to his honorary uncle Remus, who was always the smart one, the man looked pain. He explained to Harry that he was apparently waiting for Professor Snape to walk through the door and criticize him, and then berate him for slacking off, then push him harder than the other teachers. Remus said that most of his tutors thought Snape was to hard on him, but that Harry had grown accustom to the man's treatment and had enjoyed the challenge. It was then when Harry realized the hole in his life was from his mentor Severus Snape.

Harry would question over the next few weeks why he hadn't been able to figure that out himself, but it was obvious that in a time that he should've been using to grieve he had buried himself in work, and end of the year celebrations, which never allowed him to fully embrace the magnitude of what had happened.

Flitwick had vastly stepped up Harry's training after hearing about needing to be challenged and pushed him a little harder. With Snape out of the picture, Harry really only had Sirius, Remus, Flitwick, Dumbledore, along with mum and dad. Dumbledore however was busy trying to replace the defense against the Dark Arts teacher, but had managed to convince his hold friend Horace Slughorn to come back and teach potions, which went a long with way with the work that needed to be done. However Dumbledore was still a busy man, so Harry was lucky to get an hour of the man's week every week.

Also to Harry's worry Jack had begun training with him every morning. No matter what he did he could not convince the stubborn young man against it, and the oldest Potter son worried that his brother would get dragged into the fighting if he continued on this path. Harry knew it would be Jack's choice one day to fight or not, but he wanted to protect his little brother as long as he could. A part of him however reasoned that perhaps the best way to protect him would be to train him personally. So over the next few weeks he would allow him brother to train with him, and the boy showed leaps and bounds of improvements. With his eleventh birthday coming up, Harry figured the boy would make another massive step forward once he had a wand fitted to him.

When Harry wasn't training, he was spending time with his little sister. Rosalie was more than a little sad that both of her brothers would now be leaving her, but she was consoled a little bit that Romilda, and Astoria would be able to hang out more at Potter Cottage, since there would be extra space with Remus, and his parents. The two would spend many nights together on top of Potter Manor though just talking. One night Harry almost told her what he had seen in the mirror of erised, but figured he would wait until she was a bit older, after all she was only ten. While Jack was also ten, he would very soon be eleven, and Harry would be twelve.

Harry had actually spent a fair bit of time with Ernie over the past few weeks as well. Since Ernie's pureblood parents were always on business or something the boy would come over during the day, and Harry would play quidditch with his siblings, and gang up on the young man to prepare him for his keeper tryouts. Harry knew he would still need work, but he had already vastly improved, and they had just begun beginners dueling.

The only other person Harry had hung out with so far this Summer had been Megan Jones. She was giving him great company over a few of the weekends, and she was quite a blast to have around. She was pretty fun, and really good with his siblings, which was points for her in Harry's book. The only thing she wasn't very good at was quidditch.

Hestia had sought out permission in private from the Potter's to include her a little more in Harry's group at school. It had escaped Harry's notice, but Megan was the only girl in Hufflepuff first year who basically weren't named Hannah and Susan. This meant that the girl had been a bit lonely, and Harry promised her one night that he would make sure to include her more in their class, and after class activities. Neither brought up the dueling training that had been taking place before school, but that was mostly because Harry wasn't sure he could trust her with that secret just yet.

The day of Harry's twelfth birthday was finally among the Potter family, and basically they kept it pretty personal. Harry invited lots of Hufflepuff's including his best friends, Ernie, Hannah, Susan, Darrel, Cedric, Megan Jones, Tonks, Anthony, Tamsin, and Malcolm. This meant that over half the dueling team, and the whole quidditch team was there along with Neville who brought Ron, and his other buddy Oliver Wood to the party. Ron was Ron of course, but Harry actually kind of enjoyed talking with Wood. He seemed to have a pretty interesting outtake on both quidditch and dueling. From Ravenclaw Hermione and Mandy had both come, but they were basically the only two Ravenclaw's Harry was on speaking terms with. The only house that wasn't represented this year was Slytherin, but Rosalie had joked that Astoria was basically already a snake she could count for something.

There were of course plenty of adults at the party as well. Sirius and Auntie Emmeline were there, while Remus was with surprisingly with Hestia Jones, who was a fair looking brunette witch. Of course both Potter parents were there, a long with the Abbots, Alice Longbottom, and Amelia Bones. For Harry's parents friends it was some families from James' auror team, which consisted of mostly really young couples, and for the most part no kids. Mad eye was also in attendance, while Andromeda and Ted Tonks were just showing up as Harry was taking in the whole party. He knew only a few people would be coming later, because Hogwarts was still effectively running today, but he had a good group of people surrounding him on the joyful day.

His friends had gathered for a pick up game of quidditch, and even muggle volleyball, which Oliver dominated at. The games were kept pretty light and all in good spirits. Considering the party was a big cook out on the grounds of Potter Manor the guest were all having a lovely time, enjoying the beautiful summer day.

Later on in the day Harry confronted Darrel and Cedric about an issue that had been on the forefront of his mind however, "Have either of you heard from Heidi since Summer started? I've literally written her a dozen letters, and haven't gotten a single response!"

Darrel shrugged, "She always goes silent during the Summer mate. I don't think there is anything to worry about."

Harry then explained the confrontation on the platform, and then both boys looked a little more concerned. At the end of it, both agreed that they would stay for the night, and look over the pensieve memory when the guest had left. They figured at worst they could stay up late, then get up and train in the morning together for basically the first time all Summer. Neville was invited to stay the night as well, but he was going home with Ron and Oliver to do quidditch training. Figuring it was a house matter anyways, Harry didn't insist or reveal his plans, while Ernie promised to return sometime during the week as his vacation officially started the week after.

When night came upon the group, some people had already left, but the kids were mostly hanging around the fire pit talking about their Summers so far, and telling good jokes, and having a merry time. When Professor Dumbledore showed up some were surprised, poor Hermione almost had a heart attack at seeing the headmaster without her school robes, but the old man assured them it was a strictly pleasurable visit and no one was going to be interrogated by the wizard. He did however ask for a moment of Harry's time.

In this moment the rest of the Professor's appeared wishing Harry a happy birthday, while the rest greeted their students. As the headmaster and student slipped away the old man smiled benignly, "Twelve is a wonderful age Harry. It is right in between your last innocent year, and the year that will begin the wonders of teenage adolescence. The happiest years of your life are ahead of you."

Smiling the young student nodded, "I hope prosperous times are ahead of us headmaster. We will need them to remember how to get through the hard times."

The wise old man chuckled, "Wisdom beyond your age, my young friend. Wisdom beyond your age. Now there are a few items we need to discuss, if you are up for some serious conversation on this special day?"

Harry nodded, "Always Headmaster."

"Good. First I would like to keep you up to date on what is happening on the front lines. We are unable to determine at this time how many Horcruxes Tom made all those years ago, however I do believe I am close to discovering one. I believe Lucius Malfoy to be in possession of one, and in the next few weeks my friend Arthur Weasley, whom I am aware you know his children, will use his power in the department of the misuse of muggle artifacts to search his home. It is my hope we will catch the Malfoy patriarch by surprise and apprehend a piece of Tom's soul."

"That would be a great victory for the light headmaster." Harry piped in.

Dumbledore smiled, "Yes indeed it would be. Now since the light had been brought up I wish to inquire what the nature of the items were that Severus left for you in his Will."

Harry paled. He didn't think he new anyone knew about the spells he had been practicing, so he attempted to lie, "I don't understand what that has to do with the light sir? Professor Snape mostly left me potions notes, and some of his books from his personal library. While not all of them are light natured, I don't think they are anything quite like Magicke Moste Evile."

"Now Harry, the best part of being a headmaster and dealing with so many students each and ever year is the fact that I can begin to read them like books. However just knowing you, I know that you have been working in private and away from the eyes of your family for at least an hour everyday. In this time I believe you to be practicing the spells that Severus left for you. I do believe our relationship has always worked best when we agree not to lie to each other." Dumbledore chided softly.

Harry's jaw dropped, "How did you piece all that together? Severus told me that he made sure only he and I would know what he transferred into my vault."

Dumbledore laughed lightly at the boys surprised look, "It is my secrets that have kept me in power for so long Harry, and while I believe you to be the future leader of the light, I don't think that time is coming soon enough for me to reveal all my good tricks! Now on to my point. I wish for Fawkes to come visit you once a week, to purify your magic. All you will have to do is cast a few spells around my phoenix companion, and he will shed a tear which will be dissolved by magic. Since you are not practicing it for large amounts, and I hope you don't wish to stray from the light, we can keep the addiction of dark magic completely away from your core. Unless you have something you wish to tell me."

Quickly Harry retorted, "No sir! The light has been where the Potter's have rested for many centuries. While I am all for being my own man, I do respect what the light tries to do. The spells I am practicing under Professor Snape's final wishes are going to be used strictly for the war. Because we both know its coming, and as he told me, we can't always stun our opponents."

"Yes, but we mustn't ever forget that Severus himself was someone we merely stunned one day. Had we decided to kill him as likely at the time he may have arguable deserved it, we spared his life and made a fateful follower of the good fight. Now do you agree to my suggestion? If you do not I fear our lessons together would have to cease." Dumbledore explained half jokingly.

"No sir, I will take your advise as a gift, and would love to continue our lessons which I am so grateful for." Harry humbly said.

Dumbledore looked out towards the group of people by the fire, "Those young Lord and Ladies over there are the future of our society, and at such a young age they look at you to lead them. I never doubted your position Harry. I merely wished to test if the Dark had lured another helpless soul into its trap. Now I wish to speak with your parents and some of my other favorite students who have gathered here, but I wish to give you a gift, that will help you in your studies."

A small box was pulled from the man's pocket, and when he opened it Harry was surprised, "Is that what I think it is?"

In the box laid one beautiful feather from a phoenix, while on the other side of it a lighter type object was sitting in it, "Yes indeed it is. A feather from Fawkes the day after his burning, which should make this one of his most magical feathers ever given. While the other gift is my first deluminator. As I shall be honest in my old age I have little use for it, I wished for you have it, and hopefully make better use of it."

Harry beamed, "Thanks professor! But what is the feather for?"

With a twinkle in his eye he laughed, "I think you best receive your gift from your uncle Remus, and you will be able to answer your own question. Now I will wish you a Happy Birthday, and rejoin the party!"

As Dumbledore rejoined the party, Harry went over to his friends who were laughing loudly. No one questioned the conversation between Harry and headmaster, though Hermione did look curious.

Later James pulled Harry aside to give him his birthday gift. It was a private journal of the marauders, and while the Potter Lord knew Harry wasn't huge into pranking, it was more for the fact that the animagus transformation guide was in there. James told Harry that it took the Marauders about a year to get it all done, but even though his magical core would be smaller, with work he could easily have it down when he entered his third year, and possibly be the youngest animagus ever. This excited Harry, but that wasn't the only gift his dad gave him. Starting next week James promised to start going over some family wards and spells to help him in mostly defense, but there was supposed to be some really powerful and rare magic in his family grimoire. This made Harry's day on shear principle, and he couldn't wait for tomorrow to open up all his gifts, from his thoughtful friends and family.

The night wound down from there, and most of his guest were escorted out by floo or Portkey. This only left Darrel and Cedric to hang out with Harry for the night.

As the adults cleaned up with the help of the young men, by the end of the night the boys were all hanging out in the Harry's bedroom with the forever beautiful Gwenog Jones poster hanging on the wall. That wasn't the only significant detail of Harry's room though. Some of it contained other posters of famous duelist, or athletes, but there were quite a few pictures too. Harry wouldn't realize it till years later, but his mum actually took quite a few pictures while he wasn't paying attention. There was pictures of his dueling and quidditch team, and there were pictures of his friends eating lunch or dinner. If Harry hadn't known where these pictures were coming from, he might have found it creepy, but instead he found it relaxing.

As Harry pulled out the family pensieve he summoned the memory straight to mind, and dropped it into the bowl. As the trio dove in Harry was much more astute the second time in his observation. The fear of this man was now clear in the girl's eyes, and the young man was able to distinctly recall the conversation he had with the girl at the beginning of the year. She had told all of them the Muggle world had not been so kind of her, it was actually the reason why she trained so hard, that way she could earn a spot in their society one day. It was such a significant detail, but he overlooked it thinking she had the least to fight for. This was a mistake the oldest Potter would never make again.

When the three boys exited the pensieve, Darrel and Cedric exchanged heavy looks. Cedric was the first to speak, "I always expected, but I guess I just didn't want to believe it. She is only one in two girls in Hufflepuff fourth year, and her roommate Michelle isn't exactly the sharing or buddy buddy type. I just can't believe we missed it."

Darrel remained quiet, while Harry inquired, "So you have gathered the same thing I did, you think she is being mistreated in her home?"

Cedric nodded sadly, "Perhaps. Maybe its just verbal, or maybe its physical, but the only way to find out is to ask her."

"Do we even know where she lives, if we wanted to go visit her?" Harry asked calmly.

This time Darrel answered, "No she kept it real quiet as to where she lives and came from. Considering we don't have all the facts either we have to appreciate the delicacy of the situation. For all we know she could live in a orphanage."

Cedric refused to believe that, "I've been friends with Heidi since the end of first year, and she has mentioned the fact that she runs marathon with her parents every year."

"Maybe its her dad and wicked step mother?" Harry asked half jokingly.

Darrel frowned, "That wouldn't be good. That's a hostile situation and environment right there. The step mom would likely see her as a freak, considering its not her own child, she probably wouldn't even accept her. The way her dad talks about her being useless too would just enforce that thought process. But we could sit around here all day guessing, the question is what are we going to do about it? And don't tell me we are going to wait till September First. If our friend is being abused in anyway I want to know about it!"

Harry nodded, "She helped me a lot while I was in the hospital wing, and she would do the same for any of us."

The three descended into silence for a few moments when Cedric spoke up, "I've got an idea. Tomorrow we send her an owl, but instead of letting it go, we follow it. Owls are supposed to be able to track humans with magic down pretty easy. I know my owl Zeus has gone to Heidi's before, because I have gotten a response once or twice, but that was only in first year. If we follow the owl though we could find Heidi, we find Heidi, we get our answers. I would rather us be over reacting, then missing the big picture."

Harry and Darrel both agreed with the sentiment, and decided on a plan of action that would best fit the situation.

The next morning Harry and the boys were up at dawn. They did some light training, then met Mrs. Potter in the kitchen for breakfast. When she asked the boys what they were up to for the day, they merely shrugged saying they were going to run to the Alley and meet up with some of the team for ice cream, and that they would all be back around mid day. Instead of flooing to the alley though, they all flooed to the Diggory Ancestral Home, and grabbed Cedric's owl, and unleashed it into with a letter to Heidi. With advanced disillusionment charms provided by Darrel, the three took off on their broomsticks in pursuit of the owl.

It took about two hours of flying at high speeds to find the Macavoy residence, and what they found was a moderately sized two story home, that looked like a reasonably wealthy family lived in. The three boys landed their broomsticks nearby and Harry wandlessly removed the charms, knowing they were now in Heidi's territory and didn't wish to get her in trouble with the ministry. This gave Harry a chance to remind the boys of a problem, "Unless something really bad happens remember, wandless magic only. Heidi being a muggleborn has a trace on her house and wand if magic is cast. We will have to be careful."

Cedric shrugged, "We could still be over reacting. We go, we knock on the door, and we ask if shes home. If she isn't, we will wait around till she comes back, if she is, we will talk to her. No big deal right?"

Darrel muttered, "She better be okay."

The three crossed over into the yard, and walked up to the door carefully, and Darrel gently wrapped his knuckles on it four times. After a few minutes a unfortunately familiar man answered the door, "What do you want?"

Cedric being more peaceful than the other two spoke with a smile, "We are looking for a Heidi Macavoy? Do you know if she is here?"

The man stepped out of the door frame and onto the front porch, causing all three boys to take defense steps back, while the man asked, "Whose asking?"

Harry suddenly had a really bad feeling about all this, "Sir, we met on the platform. My name is Harry Potter. We go to the boarding school in Scotland together. We were in the neighborhood, and hadn't heard from her all Summer, so we just wanted to stop by and see how she was doing. I had hoped I hadn't upset her or you, back at Kings Cross, so if there is need to apologize please forgive me."

Cedric and Darrel both looked at Harry's very politically polite answer with a bit of awe on their faces while the tall man tried to smell deception, "Look I don't know what your kind are doing around in these parts. These are good people, and we don't want none of your freaky shit going on around here."

Darrel had clearly had enough as he now took a step forward, "Well __sir__ if you want our freaky shit to leave then we need to see your daughter, so we know she is okay. We haven't heard from her in over six weeks, and were all worried."

The man suddenly reached out and grabbed Darrel, but Harry and Cedric were both now standing at opposite sides of each other with their wands pointed at the man while Cedric barked out, "Drop him or we drop you!"

Suddenly a scream came from inside, and that seemed to do it for Darrel. With a quick shove to the gut the man lost his handles on him, and the oldest Abbot son uppercut the man in the face, and then dropped him by sweeping out his feet, then marched right over his body, with both of his friends right behind him. Another scream came from the upstairs, and now all the boys were running to get to the cry for help. When they came to the last door it was bolted shut, and it was clear the whimpers and cries were coming from that room. Darrel called out, "Heidi are you in there, its Darrel?"

Suddenly the cries became sobs, and they all knew they had found their friend. Cedric then called out, "Heidi its Cedric, if you are close to the door get out of the way, we are going to kick it in!"

With only waiting a few seconds Darrel stood back then slammed his foot into the door, with no luck. Between Darrel, Cedric, and Harry taking turns at it they were able to break it after only a couple of tries, and what they found made all their hearts clench.

Heidi was tied to her bed loosely, and her red hair was all matted and messed up, as if she hadn't been able to shower or clean in days. She looked unnaturally skinny, and there was a large bruise on the left side of her face.

The girl was inconsolably sobbing, while Darrel swept over to the girl pulling him in her arms whispering to her, "Shh, its okay were here. Were going to get you out of here. You don't ever have to come back I promise."

Darrel tried to pull at the rope with no luck then looked to Harry, "Can you do something about this rope?"

Harry quickly nodded deciding whatever happens next can be taken up with Ministry as the worse scenario had come true. There friend had been abused. With a slight blasting hex at the bed he was able to crack the post and get rid of the rope easily enough.

Cedric then spoke, "We need to get her out of here. Lets get outside and call for the knight bus. It can take us to St. Mungos."

The others nodded, and Darrel picked up the girl bridal style carrying her out of the room last. Cedric and Harry were quietly conversing on what should happen next when an audible clicking noise sounded through the hallway. When Harry and Cedric looked towards the hallway they were walking in between they saw Heidi's dad standing their with some type of muggle fire arm, "You freaks get out of my house and put that girl down. She still has some of that freaky shit in her, and no daughter of mine is going to be a freak!"

Before the man could even blink he was struck by two stunners, and the man dropped like a sack of potatoes. As Darrel carried a shaking Heidi, Harry and Cedric went over to the man both kicked him in the side a few times before they to followed their friends who were calling for the night bus. Thankfully they didn't have to wait very long, and the bus was able to take them to St. Mungos pretty quickly.

Stan Shunpike was a pretty decent bloke and thankfully asked no questions, and only wished their lovely young lady friend a speedy recovery. The next few hours were a blur. Harry fire called his dad and told him what happened first, asking him to start an investigation in the auror department, and to see what he could do about the two acts stunners that the boys had been forced to cast at the house. Thankfully James Potter didn't get to the top of the auror department for nothing, and easily got the minor counts of underage magic dismissed with a snap of his fingers, and he even had an arresting officer go pick up Heidi's dad before the hour was even up.

What followed was what the mayhem was though. Once the Abbots, and Lord Diggory had found out where there sons had been and what they had discovered the blew a gasket. Lily Potter was among the angry, but at the time where all the parents were discussing what would happen next, it was thankfully revealed no one was upset at the boys for going to the rescue of their friend. It was also agreed upon that under no circumstances would she be going back to her father, unless she was given a permit to use underage magic to defend herself. Even that was not going to satisfy the mothers of the group though.

The three boys refused to leave St. Mungos point blank however, until Heidi was able to talk to them, and tell them it was going to be okay. It would be a long few days for the boys.

****(A/N) This was not angst for the record. I put this chapter in, because I am trying to sever ties with the muggle world for Heidi, and I was fixing a plot hole I created earlier in the first school year. Anyways though, this was 1 of 2 chapters for the Summer, so the next chapter wraps it up, and 22 will be the beginning of year 2! Year 2 will only consist of 8-9 chapters, and then we will be moving into third year! Please review, and I will try and get my updates out a bit faster! Cheers!****


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

The remainder of the Summer had been a blur. After the incident with Heidi, Harry had been grounded for lying to his mum, but it was a price he was willing to pay for the sake of his friend. After the second day of Heidi being unconscious she had been awoken with her body finally being able to catch up with her built up magical reserves. She proceeded to cry into Darrel's arms for hours, and it was decided that she would live with the Abbot's until further notice. Originally Cedric offered his home, but Lily Potter, and Becky Abbot, claimed it would be best for her to have female company in whatever home she went to from there. It turned out that had been for the best, because Darrel and Heidi would get to spend the rest of summer building her strength back up, and preparing her for the school year.

It had been unanimously decided that House Potter, and Diggory would put their protection over the muggleborn witch, which basically made her legal family.

In Harry's grounded time, he wasn't really forbidden to do much, the only thing he really couldn't do was leave the house on his own. This really just meant that his number of visitors went up, and the amount of time he was spending with his little sister had gone up.

The trip to diagon alley had been interesting. Jack picked up his wand which consisted of thestral heart string, and elder oak. According to James Potter, Thestral ingredients used to be a common wand piece, due to their family history of death. This didn't manage to squander any moods of the happy that day, but the trip to book store did that. Inside was the first time the Potter's discovered just who the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was going to be. The infamous Gilderoy Lockhart was standing up preening like a peacock in front of the audience, which was all fine and dandy, but when he spotted Harry, he dragged him to the front and paraded him around to, which annoyed Harry to no end. Especially when he later received the verbal abuse from Malfoy. Harry was moments from hexing the boy before the lovely Hannah Abbot showed up, and insulted Draco seven ways from Sunday. This led to a happy meeting, which was only interrupted by Lucius Malfoy, and Arthur Weasley brawling like muggles.

James Potter in the end separated the fight, and sent them both on their ways with threats of being thrown in a holding cell if they didn't behave. That had pretty much ended the Potter's good day, and sent everyone on their way.

With only a few days left until school started Harry had finally been ungrounded, and approached by his two favorite girls, to see if he wanted to take one last Summer adventure. Harry of course was always down for an adventure and didn't quite know what he was signing up for.

The following day, the three second year Hogwarts students were getting off the knight bus and approaching the gates to a very large amusement park, just outside of the magical community of Falmouth, which was where Susan lived.

An amusement park was the one muggle thing Harry had yet to experience, and when he told his mum about the idea, she had been thrilled, and insisted that she, and his father would cover their day, so they could get the full experience of carnival games, roller coasters, and Ferris wheels.

Susan who did this every few years was ecstatic to introduce her friends to this cool area in the muggle world. They started on the roller coasters, which Harry fell in love with. Hannah was a huge fan of the food, and the animal shows where the oddest experiences occurred.

In the snake exhibit, the reptile like creatures approached Harry, who had never mentioned his parseltounge abilities to the girls...to say it was a surprise was an understatement. Thankfully they agreed to stay quiet about, and neither seemed too bothered by it.

Another strange happening with the animals was in the ape exhibit. The girls were walking with Harry in the middle from exhibit to exhibit when a hand grabbed Harry softly and turned him around, and to his ultimate surprise a large monkey was standing there flashing the young man a smile. The girls immediately swooned over the creature, and attempted to hug him, which turned out to be easier than expected as the monkey was seemingly very friendly. Harry looked around wondering where the owner of this cute monkey was, or if he had wondered from his exhibit.

**A/N) This scene is significant, please don't think I am crazy or rambling!**

His answer came rather quickly as an older man came barreling around the corner in a frantic search of his companion. The girls were both warming up to the creature quickly, and when the man laid eyes on the little ape he relaxed and came over to the group, "You must be some exceptionally powerful young witches and wizards if you can see my familiar here."

Harry looked at the ape in confusing, "I'm sorry?"

The man offered his hand, "Tobias James, nice to meet you. I'm an animal circus performer. But at this moment, a notice me not charm has been placed on my familiar, yet you three see right through it, and he seemed almost drawn to your power. I am guessing you are all from light families."

Susan who was watching Hannah now pick up the little ape, look around in urgency, "Should we be speaking so openly?"

Tobias laughed, "I never do get much attention in these parts despite my performances. Your in good hands ma'am."

The monkey quickly went barreling to his master at a soft whistle, and the little creature seemed to keep growing as he ran to the side of his master, and when he made it, the monkey was no longer a little ape, but a very large ape. Harry had read many books on animals, and he recognized the shape shifting animal to be a gorilla in its new form. The three young sorcerers stared in awe at what had just happened before their very eyes, yet the owner merely grinned, "Best you don't ask, but this is his normal form, so you can probably see why I have to keep the charm pretty active around him. Can you imagine what the muggles would do if they noticed a one ton ape walking around the park beside them?"

The ape grunted, but looked to stare at Harry. The young man seemed entranced by the large creature, who had huge muscles, and strength that looked like it could crush a muggle automobile. Taking a few steps forward the green eyed young man offered his hand to the creature, and everyone froze. The gorilla seemed to just smile at the reversal of the situation, and took his hand softly. The two just seemed to shake hands and stare at each other while Tobias grinned, "Its not too often I see Mikey bond with anyone else. You must be something special kid. Mikey doesn't get much company, and I hope you guys will like the show, and maybe stop by to see it again sometime!"

The girls seemed to stand firmly behind Harry, but he didn't notice until the gorilla bumped him on the shoulder and followed his master, before they got out of reach the oldest Potter scion called out, "Wait!"

Tobias and his familiar turned around in surprise when Harry just merely said, "Thank you for letting us meet him."

Tobias and his familiar merely nodded with a smile, and walked away from the group. Hannah was the first to speak, "Are you okay Harry?"

The green eyed boy seemed to snap out of his funk at the question and just smiled, "I don't know I just feel different. That creature was wonderful wasn't he?"

Hannah smiled at the boy taking his hand, "That he was! Come on, lets go catch the show!"

Susan quickly followed behind her two friends that were heading towards the show, and what followed amazed the three. The man and his partner of an animal did amazing tricks, and stunts together, which led to a pretty satisfied crowd.

The day was beginning to wind down though as the three were walking around the park again, just playing the games, and helping Susan win some type of souvenir from one of the carnival games. In the end Harry had won a prize for both Susan and Hannah, and to the surprise of none, they asked for monkeys that looked remarkably like Mikey.

As the three were beginning to leave the park they even stopped in a photo booth where they took a series of pictures together, that they would all cherish forever to remember such a happy day. They left the park that day with Harry's arms around both girls, with their heads resting on his shoulders, all reminiscing on how great the summer was!

The gathering at platform 9 and 3/4s was more exciting than Harry had ever remembered. With Jack heading off to Hogwarts though, Harry had been spending the remainder of his time with his little Sister, who was going to be in the castle quite a bit with her mum, and Uncle Remus. Harry promised to visit her often, and show her around certain aspects of Hogwarts that not many knew.

The goodbye with his dad was a little emotional as they had been spending so much time together working on his animagus transformation. Sirius had been calling it his marauder training, and that included even some Black and Potter family spells and wards that guaranteed the boy some extra power in the coming year.

His training over the Summer had really taken off after his birthday, and he felt he was truly progressing. He couldn't wait for the dueling tournament to start again, and impress Dumbledore with application of his teachings. Flitwick and Dumbledore both had given up quite a bit of time for Harry on the back half of the Summer, and Harry felt like he was going to be given his older friends a good run for their money by the end of the year.

Though he still missed Professor Snape, professor Flitwick had really stepped up in his mentor position, whether that was to ease Harry's grief or to just start something new the green eyed boy didn't know, but for whatever the reason was, he was grateful.

As the train was taking off Harry embraced his crying sister kissing her on the top of the head, "Stay sharp Rosalie, I love you, and I'll see you in a few weeks!"

Through tears the girl responded, "Take care of our boy for me. He won't have me to keep him out of trouble."

Harry looked over to Jack who was talking to some muggleborn with a huge smile on his face, and Harry merely smiled at his sister, "You know I will watch out for him. You just take care of yourself, because only Uncle Remus will be around to watch your back all the time. Just one more year, and you will be joining us."

With one last kiss on the head he gave his sister a goodbye, and hugged his uncles who promised to come see some of his dueling performances, along with all his quidditch matches.

It was at this point Harry met up with Ernie and they boarded the train with Jack and the muggleborn Collin Creevy in tow. When they boarded the train Harry turned towards his brother, "Do you want to ride with me, or are you going to meet up with Ginny, and Luna?"

Jack turned towards the frightened looking muggleborn behind him, and smiled at his brother, "I'll find my friends and catch up with you at the feast, or on the platform."

Harry returned the boys confident smile pulling the kid into a hug, "Alright brother, if you need something let me know...No matter what house your sorted into were family. Love you buddy."

The last part was said quietly, and they patted each other on the back pretty hard, and separated. Harry watched his brother go off, and then followed Ernie into a compartment where Hannah, and Susan were waiting with Megan Jones. Ernie exchanged small talk, "How was the rest of your summer mate?"

Harry grinned, "I had a blast with some of my favorite girls, and trained hard, how about you? Did you keep up with your work outs?"

Ernie lifted his shirt a bit, showing significant progress on the loss of fat, "Yes sir I did!"

The girls all blushed at Ernie's boldness, while Harry punched the boy on the shoulder, "That's good stuff man. Are you ready to step in the ring with the big boys starting tomorrow?"

With pride intact Ernie laughed, "The real question is are you guys ready for me?"

Hannah and Susan rolled their eyes, while Megan Jones just laughed.

Harry greeted the three girls finally and they all talked about their respective Summers for a few hours, then discussed the upcoming term when a tall boy entered the compartment with a happy smile on his face, "Whats up gang?"

Susan smiled at the older boy, "Hey Diggory, or should I call you sir from now on?"

The others laughed while Cedric winked, "You can call me whatever you want Sue!""

This caused the girl to blush, and Harry to chuckled, "You didn't mention getting prefect Cedric! Congrats!"

Cedric bowed briefly, "Yes sir, Prefect, and quidditch captain. Darrel got the dueling captain spot again, and I suspect he will keep it, until he graduates."

Hannah was quick to defend her brother, "He deserves it too! He has turned the team around, and will lead us to another winning season. Sprout will respect his position, until she gives it to Harry in his fourth year, which is generally the youngest year someone becomes a captain anyways!"

Cedric held his hands up in surrender, "No offense intended, your brother is a hell of a dueler, and he deserves the number one seed this year!"

A voice came from behind the young man, "You better believe it Diggory! Just because your the golden boy of the air doesn't mean I can't rule the ground war."

This time another voice was heard from behind Darrel Abbot, "Now now boys play nice."

In came a very healthy looking Heidi Macavoy, who was holding the oldest Abbot's hand softly. Harry didn't even raise an eyebrow at it, but knew there would be a well placed comment later. She looked just as beautiful as she did at the end of the year, and part of Harry wanted to slap his friend on the back for his luck with such a beautiful bombshell like Heidi.

Harry stood up and clasped both boys hands, and pulled them in for a brief pat on the back in greetings, while pulling Heidi in for a full hug, who said she wished to speak with him privately later.

Darrel began shooting expansion charms on the compartment to help give room for the group, and then took a seat next to Heidi, while Cedric took a seat next to Harry, "I just wanted to touch base with everyone here. Harry tells me that Ernie is going be joining us in our work outs this term?"

Ernie nodded timidly in the presence of such older students, but still kept his smile, and Darrel gave him a respectable nod, "What about Megan? I know she had been a lot closer in the loop over the Summer?"

Megan blushed with all the compartment eyes on her, and Harry came to her defense, "Don't feel pressured to do it just because we are Megan. I will not think any less of you, and the offer is open to you at any time."

Megan gave Harry a thankful look and said, "I'll definitely think about it. I watched Harry and Professor Flitwick duel over the Summer, and I know that I could use the work, but I'd like to speak to my mum, and see how the term is going to go."

Darrel shrugged while Cedric questioned, "Are we going to be getting weird looks from anyone within the house?"

Ernie cued them in on the second year boys thought process, "I think we are actually pretty clear. With Zacharias hanging out with those Slytherin's and Wayne is always attached to Justin's hip. If there is anyone to even look twice at it would be Smith."

Harry nodded, "Pureblood bigot...no big deal, and its not something all of us haven't dealt with before."

Heidi was the first to nod on that comment, while Harry continued to speak, "I just hope we are in for a calmer year. No threat of Quirrell this year, and fair teachers grading us in all classes. Despite Lockhart likely being a fraud, I think we are in for a good year. Especially when we bring the Gauntlet and Cup to the house."

Darrel laughed, "Are dueling team is going to be nasty this year. With you three second years, and maybe Ernie which would be four, we will be stacked from start to finish basically."

Cedric nodded, "We just need a Keeper for quidditch, and I will join the early celebrations."

Ernie threw in his two cents, "I'm trying out for Keeper this year Mr. Diggory."

Cedric smiled at the boy, "Right on! If you make the team though you'll have to get used to calling me Cedric or I am going to have Darrel follow you around with the beaters bat."

This caused the others to laugh, and Ernie to smile nervously. At that point the group went their separate ways, while the train was approaching the half an hour mark till they arrived in Hogsmeade. The last half hour of the train ride past in a blur to, as suddenly the students were pouring onto the platform.

The first years made their way to the boats, where Harry was able to mouth one last good luck to his brother, and the others were led to the carriages where Harry froze in his spot. When he spotted the carriage his heart skipped a beat, as what lied before him was something he had only read books about. Two winged creatures were pulling the cart, and he knew they were threstrals, the holders of his brothers wand.

A hand went on his frozen shoulder as Darrel and Cedric gave him sad looks. It was clear the two boys had expected Harry to see these creatures for the first time, while Harry was forced to ask weakly, "Can either of you see them?"

Darrel shook his head while Cedric looked strained, "I can see them Harry. They are friendly. Come on."

Harry felt a hand go on his back as he was ushered forward to the carts. There were a lot of eyes on the two boys, but neither paid them any attention as Cedric helped Harry reach out and touch the skeletal winged horses. It was in this moment Harry looked around for Neville, and realized the boy had not been seen during the whole train ride. At first he found this odd, but figured if the boy missed the train then he would just floo to the headmasters office.

After only a moment longer of lingering near the horses, the group of second years took the cart with Cedric, Heidi, and Darrel keeping the group company. No one commented on Harry's first site of the thestrals, and Harry wondered if the person Cedric had seen die was his mother, and didn't want to ask at this time.

The conversation was kept light, until they reached the castle, and entered their home for next 10 months.

The great hall was looking as magnificent as usual, and when they entered they took in the site of beauty happily, and took their seats at their respective tables. Harry tried to get a seat as close to the front as possible to get the best look at his brothers sorting. He was welcomed back a hero among his housemates, and many were ecstatic to start the next sports season for Hufflepuff to begin a true dynasty of wins!

It was a short time afterwards that Professor Mccgonagal came in with the first years. Much to Harry's pride Jack was leading the way with Ginny, Luna, and the muggleborn from the platform behind them. The others looked nervous, while Jack kept his head held high.

The sorting hat was looking as odd as usual, and when the transfiguration professor picked it up he began singing the standard song, welcoming the students to a new a year, and telling the new students about each of the houses. When the song finished the crowd politely clapped, and the names were called. The class seemed smaller than usual, while the names started with a Jason Frost. The first student of the year was sorted straight into Hufflepuff with almost no hesitation. The house roared with approval, and the next name was called. When it got to Luna, she was sorted into Ravenclaw. August Moon was someone Harry was familiar with from the Pureblood balls and such, and he was sorted into Slytherin. After two more names Jack was called up to the stool. For the first time Jack looked kind of nervous, and he glance back towards his brother at the Hufflepuff table. Much to the surprise of Harry the sorting of his brother was taking its time. He thought he would immediately either be put in Hufflepuff or Gryffindor.

Two or three minutes passed, and at some point Jack kept glancing back from the Gryffindor table, and straight at his brother. The next time he caught his brothers eyes he gave him a sad smile and a nod, and only a few seconds later the hat called out, "Gryffindor!"

Harry stood up and cheered for his brother, and most of his friends in the house backed him on the welcome for the Potter son. Jack smiled and walked towards his house table, but stopped before he made it, and turned to his brother, who stood up, and hugged the boy tightly, and let him take his seat among his new family. The great hall seemed to all watch with sad eyes to see siblings sorted into different houses, but it wasn't that uncommon.

When Harry sat back down Hannah gave the boy a gentle shoulder bump and whispered in his ear that the two would still get to spend loads of time together. The green eyed young man merely smiled at the girl and felt her hand go in his under the table, while Susan took his other hand. It had honestly been hard watching his brother get sorted into a different house, as he had hoped his siblings might follow him into a new tradition in the Potter family. When Harry looked back over to the Gryffindor table, Jack was seated next to Neville, and the two made eye contact, where Neville smiled at his best friend, giving him the assuring look that he would protect his brother.

The Potter scion wasn't sure when his best friend had arrived, but he was glad that he was going to be around to watch out for his little brother.

By the time his focus came back Ginny Weasley was being sorted, and she was almost instantly sorted into Gryffindor. That only left one student, and Dumbledore stood, "The last student to be sorted is a true rarity. Hogwarts does not get very many transfer students, but this young lady will be a second year from Beauxbatons, and I hope that our second year class will make her most comfortable in her adjustment.

Dumbledore locked eyes with Harry for a moment, and Harry gave the man a nod understanding that their must be some importance to this girl. But when the good witch at the front called her name Cedric gasped next to him, "Sally Anne Perkins."

The blonde girl held her head high and walked over to the sorting hat. The girl was pretty attractive in Harry's opinion, and it was almost odd that her and Hannah shared many common features outside of the blonde hair. Sally wore her hair in pigtails just like Hannah usually does, and her eyes were sharp blue. If Harry didn't know any better he would say they were sisters.

It was a normal length sorting, and at the end, not much to Harry's surprise the girl was sorted into Hufflepuff. The crowd clapped for the arrival of the new student, and Hufflepuff of course cheered particularly loud for the house had received the first and last student, which was likely a good sign!

Sally went and sat beside some of the other first years, while Cedric's eyes stayed constantly on her. The boy with the lightning shaped scar wasn't sure of much, but this girl clearly meant something to both Dumbledore and Cedric, and the Diggory heir looked at this girl like he was seeing a ghost.

The headmaster of Hogwarts stood up after the applause died down, "Their is time for great and soaring speeches, but for now I will only give you two words, tuck in!"

If there was one thing you didn't have to tell teenagers to do twice, it was eating, and the hall descended into a quiet chatter, while most people were feasting like never before. The conversations were pleasant throughout dinner, and Harry enjoyed catching up with his friends that he didn't keep in much contact with, like Justin, and Malcolm, whom was in his last year.

When the feast was over Dumbledore gave his standard announcements and welcomed Horace Slughorn as the new potions Professor, and Gilderoy Lockhart as the new Defense against the dark arts professor, to which the girls cheered loudly for. Slughorn was put directly next to Lily Potter, whom apparently was one of his favorite students when he was teaching in the past. Lockhart was next to Profesor Babbling and Sinistra trying to chat up the two ladies, while neither was being very susceptible to his charms.

Dumbledore didn't say much else, other than briefly speaking about the upcoming quidditch season and dueling tournament. The respective captains to both organizations were asked to stand so the houses could identify who they needed to speak to, and then the prefects were asked to escort their first year students to their respective houses.

It was during the walk back to the common rooms that Harry introduced himself to the new girl in his year, and told her if she need anything to let him know. The girl was fairly flirtatious in her response, and even more so when she discovered that he spoke French.

Harry found the girl refreshingly witty, and quite kind hearted, and hopefully a healthy addition to the Badger house.

When Harry caught Cedric before bed, the Diggory heir said that he would talk to him later about it, and that he needed to write his dad a letter. It was noted that Cedric didn't seem worried or anything of the sort, just anxious. When Harry went off to bed he wished all his friends goodnight, and a gentle reminder to go to bed at a reasonable time for training the next day.

When he made it up to his dorm he gently cast a few wards over his stuff for practice, and read some of the notes of two wanded dueling this his uncle Mooney had given him for his birthday. Lastly he did slight practice on his animagus attempts, as he was getting close to determining what his animal was, and then drifted off into sleep late into the night.

**(A/N) Good day everyone, this is the update for the week. With only one week left in my school year, you can expect more updates coming, and twice a week instead of once after Memorial Day. The update schedule will be Sunday, and Thursday. Please review, and as usual if we get a good number I will update again within the week! Cheers!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

When Harry awoke the next morning he rolled out of bed, and peaked over to see if Ernie was awake. Seeing that he wasn't he grinned and walked over to the young man and cast the water charm right on top him, following it up with a silencing charm, then a drying charm. Ernie glared at his friends as his eyes widened and he shot out of bed going for his wand. Once he became fully cognizant however he just stared at his friend in something that would resemble shock, while Harry cheekily grinned, "Welcome to day one rookie! Grab your work out clothes, they will all be waiting on us."

Harry changed his clothes quickly, and ran down the stairs to meet up with his friends, and it was clear no one had gotten up this early in a while other than Harry as most of everyone was dragging themselves around. The oldest Potter scion however had not slept in many days during the Summer and was fully ready to get this party started.

When Ernie was the last to join them, the group of seven walked out of the common room and towards the Hogwarts grounds to start their morning run. Harry was now in the best shape out of the group, and basically led the run the whole way. He was pleasantly surprised that everyone was able to keep up with the run though, and no one had to cut out of it at all.

When they got to the beach it was the second year leader who was showing Ernie how to walk through some of the Occulmency exercises to relax, and then it was Harry who was pairing everyone up in the practice duels. Hannah and Susan were going to be paired as doubles, and Ernie would be substituting for one or the other to keep things constantly rotating.

Harry noticed marked improvement in both Heidi and Cedric's dueling techniques. They were both much faster, and their chain spells were coming along beautifully. It would be no question that Cedric would be the number two seed, while Harry would likely take the #3 or #4 seed without question. Susan and Hannah were able to beat everyone when they were paired together except for Harry and Darrel, who were now pretty experienced.

When Harry and Darrel dueled everyone stopped and watched in awe, as such advanced magic came from the two. The speed and pace of the duel was also remarkable, but Darrel was able to over power Harry after a few minutes of constant fighting.

Ernie had made his mark fairly well in the group, but Hannah and Susan both wiped the floor with him. He did great in the two ib one duels though. Him and Susan made quite the team when they took down Heidi, and almost took down Cedric.

The practice was over though around 7:30, and it was time to go back up to the castle, and get ready for the day. Darrel, Harry, and Cedric were discussing scheduling though, "Heidi and I should really partner up against you and Harry sometime. Harry and I duel to a stand still most of the time, and I can usually beat him, but no one is beating you Abbot. If you let Heidi and I both duel against you then you are dealing with two more powerful duelers."

Harry shrugged, "Eventually, or maybe just later in the year I would even like to move to three on one duels. We need to get to the point that all of us are competent at fighting two duelers."

"With the way were going we shouldn't be to far off of that. Harry, I bet by this year your shields will be able to last the full five minutes. I'll be the first to say that as far as power goes, no one can beat me just yet, but as far as defensive prowess, Harry you've got us beat pretty good." Darrel conceded.

The boy who lived sighed, "Yeah defense is great, especially if I am trying to protect someone, but out lasting someone is going to work only against less experienced duelist, not death eaters."

Cedric clapped the boy on the shoulder, "Relax Harry, we have plenty of time to grow into fighting death eaters. You'll also grow into your power, while defense isn't something that just happens over night. We keep this up, and when the time comes we will handle whatever problem arises. Also keep in mind, despite death eaters magical experience, they don't really train, they just execute."

The group made their way through the castle, and once inside the common rooms they all went their separate ways to get ready for their first day of classes. Harry was one of the first ones ready and was waiting down in the common room for someone else to accompany him to lunch, when he saw Sally-Anne sitting down on the sofa reading The Tale of Two Cities, "So your into muggle literature?"

The blonde girl barely even glanced up at the boy while she said, "I am well rehearsed in both magical and muggle literature."

Nodding his head the boy grinned, "Cool! My mum and Uncle are both into muggle literature, especially my mum."

Sally-Anne seemed to look up at this, "Is your mum a muggleborn?"

"Yes, she's also the Ancient Runes Professor here at Hogwarts." Harry said proudly.

**A/N I have fixed the error in Chapter 13 that refers to her as the muggle studies. In the original mentioning of her working for Hogwarts she was the Ancient Runes professor.**

Sally-Anne shrugged, "So the boy who lived, a half blood managed to defeat the greatest Pureblood dark sorcerer of all time as an infant. What's your secret?"

Trying not break his friendly posture at her sudden image of Pureblood Supremacy he responded, "I had the power of magic and luck behind me, and with those two things nothing is impossible."

This was a pretty standard answer for Harry that he had fed to many people over the years, while Sally seemed to take it with a grain of salt, "I don't believe you."

It was such a simple answer, and when she went back to reading the page she was on, it was almost as if she merely shrugged about him asking what the weather would be like the next day, "I'm sorry?"

The girl immediately retorted back, "If you can't tell me the truth that's fine, but you shouldn't lie to me."

Harry stared at the girl in awe and confusion, "I don't understand. I couldn't be sure how exactly I defeated Voldemort, but I can only give you my educated guess."

Sally-Anne merely shook her head, "So maybe you aren't lying, but you aren't telling the truth either. You will do well in the political arena."

Ernie came up behind him at that point with a confident smile, "You ready to go to breakfast?"

Harry looked at the odd blonde girl across from him one last time, nodded his head and asked, "Hey Sally were going to the great hall for breakfast, would you like to join us."

The boys waited for a response for almost thirty seconds before she turned the page and responded, "No thank you though boys, I will just see you in the great hall."

Ernie nodded and immediately began heading towards the common room exit, while Harry lagged behind a bit, taking odd glances at the girl who had just given him a slight headache.

Upon arrival at the great hall, they were still among the first, but surprisingly Jack was talking to Dumbledore, and when he saw Harry walk in the boy bid his headmaster good morning, and came over to his brother, "Morning Harry! What time exactly did you get up to workout this morning? I came down at 7 to the great hall knowing that was the earliest time breakfast was served, and hoped I would catch you on your way out, but it seems I missed you. Dumbledore was just about to tell me what time you guys usually started."

Harry gave his brother a easy smile, "Morning little brother, don't you want to get settled in your house before you come work out with us. Or even have Neville come with you, so you won't be among so many of my housemates?"

Jack shrugged, "Neville does his training at night apparently with some of the other Gryffindors, but I wanted to do it with you, because I knew you would teach me the best."

This was news to Harry. He wasn't aware that Neville had gathered his own group at nights to train on the grounds, and wondered why it hadn't been mentioned. Speaking of his best friend he had yet to find out where he had been on the train, or how he just suddenly appeared at the feast last night. However there were always different times and places for these answers, "Listen Jack, I know you want to train with us, but-"

"But what? Am I not good enough to make it into your group? All that talk on the train, and even last night, and now what?" Jack spat clearly defensive.

Sighing Harry noticed they were already getting looks while he said, "Its not that I don't think you are a competent duelist Jack, hell you might even be able to beat Susan, and Hannah, and I know you were beating Ernie this Summer, but I just don't want you involved in this. Neville I am sure would be happy to take you in and train, he has already said so before."

"So your going to just give up on me, and hand me to Neville, just because I am not in your house?" Jack said clearly seconds away from reaching for his wand.

Harry took a deep breath and closed his eyes before saying, "You know this has nothing to do with what house your in. I told you yesterday that we were going to be family, and stick together no matter what house your in. I'm not handing you over to Neville either, because your still my brother. If you want to train, I will gladly take time out of my day until my OWL year and basically train you one on one, but I don't want you to be training with the others."

Jack spat angrily, "You mean you don't want to train me how to fight dea-"

For the first time Dumbledore said something, "Mr. Potter I kindly remind you where exactly we are."

Harry had almost forgotten that Dumbledore, and half of the Hogwarts staff was already down at breakfast, and more than half of the current great hall occupants were staring at them. Thankfully his mum came to the rescue speaking, "Jack Charlus Potter! What are you and your brother arguing about for the entire great hall to see?"

Jack gave his brother a dirty look, and spoke sharply, "Nothing mum, just having a minor disagreement. Nothing we can't solve ourselves."

Before the good professor could respond, Jack walked away from the group, and sat down at his house table. Lily looked to her oldest son for an explanation, but just shook his head, and walked towards the exit of the great hall, his appetite no longer in tack.

Before he made it far he heard his name called by a familiar voice that made the boy smile a bit, "Mr. Potter wait! I have your schedule hear for you, or I am afraid you are going to pout off in the wrong direction!"

Professor Sprout was quickly hobbling behind Harry at a quick rate. When she handed him the schedule she spoke gently, "There we are! I expect you had a good Summer Harry?"

Harry smiled at his very kind head of house, "Yes Professor Sprout, it was great, how was yours?"

The women laughed heartily, "From all the training I hear you received I am surprised in your answer, and please call me Pom when just us Puffs are around. Professor Sprout is much to formal."

Harry laughed, "Okay Pom, did you have a good summer?"

The women clapped him on the shoulder, "Yes sir I did! Your friend Neville actually came and visited me a few times, and helped me around the green houses. He is just as handy as plants as he is with a wand, and I know the two of you duel together rather often!"

Harry chuckled lightly, "Yes, Neville and I have been dueling together since we could steal our parents wand. I keep missing him by chance, but I hope to catch up with him soon."

A moment of silence came between the two when the women asked with a particularly careful voice, "Harry, do you mind if I ask you something a little personal? Just because I am your head of house does not mean you have to answer the question."

Harry figuring it couldn't be anything too bad shrugged, "Sure Professor anything."

The women sighed at his slip in her name, and spoke, "I notice that there are now seven students leaving the common room at five thirty each morning, and while I would like to think this is to maintain our dueling gauntlet I must know if that is truly the case?"

The green eyed boy wasn't quite sure just how much Dumbledore kept his staff in the loop, so decided to answer honestly, but not give away to much, "No Professor, this is not the case."

Pomona Sprout seemed to age a few years before his eyes, "Yes I figured this was not the case. I have seen many dedicated young men and women come through my house Mr. Potter, but never have come close to your conviction. I know that last year you missed three days of training, all year, and they were all because you were in the hospital wing. Your determination is something to be very proud of, but as your head of house, and as your loyal friend I must ask what you are training for?"

Harry froze not quite sure what to say on this one. He glowed at the compliment of his head of house, and he didn't want to lie to the gentle women. After perhaps a moment too long the head of house continued, "I understand you are Dumbledore's golden boy to the world, and I also know that you and your best friend Neville will likely lead the light in the future, perhaps even the day our headmaster leaves this world, but I also know that the other six students that follow you down your path of conviction are also in my house, and some of their parents I have been friends with for many years, and it is clear they all know something. I have informed them of their rigorous training exercises, and none seemed surprised. If this was ordinary circumstances the training you all are putting yourselves through would be very questionable. But the circumstances are far from ordinary, and as are you Mr. Potter."

The oldest Potter son just stared at the women, trying to find the words, but none came to him, "If you are ever in need of my help Harry, I hope you know my office as your head of house, or just as a regular Puff is always open to you. I also may not be the best with my wand, but I can promise you that if anything happens to any of you, I will be fighting tooth and nail to help. I didn't get to be the head of Hufflepuff for nothing after all."

This time finally having an appropriate response Harry smiled, "Thanks Pom, for the compliments, and the offer."

The women patted the boy on the cheek softly and walked back towards the great hall.

A bit later on in his first class of the day the young man got to witness the highly spoken of Professor Slughorn. The man was a bit of a...arrogant berk really wasn't the right word, but very prideful of his past students. It was clear that during the first lesson he was really watching over a select few, noticeably from pureblood families. Harry was with the Ravenclaws in this class period, and he was working with Ernie since everyone else was partnered up, and Slughorn seemed to hover over them as they made a fairly simple potion.

When the students left the class the man was positively beaming. Harry did admit that this was probably one of the best, and most powerful classes to pass through Hogwarts in recent years, but the man looked like Christmas had come a few months early.

To be fair to the man, much like Snape, he seemed to really know his stuff. Harry was grateful for that at least, because when he came to Professor Lockharts class for the first time it was clear he did not.

The man was so incompetent that his first quiz to the class on the first day, was to see if anyone knew things like what his favor color was. Harry vowed in private to speak to his mother about the man, but didn't hold his breath on getting another teacher. He knew Dumbledore made a desperate last minute decision in hope to prevent the Ministry from assigning some stick in the mud that didn't even have a OWL or NEWT in DADA. Then again Harry doubted Lockhart did either.

The only upside the whole lesson was when he pulled out his wand and dramatically talked about dangerous dark creatures, and proceeded to show them "Freshly Caught Cornish Pixies" and when Draco Malfoy made fun of them Lockhart barked out, "Lets see what you make of them!"

Before the first one even flew out, Harry's wand was drawn and freezing them all in the air before they could wreak havoc. This gained him twenty points, but Lockhart asked him not to participate any further, and surprisingly undid the charm. Surprising shouldn't have been the word, as any third year or above student could cast finite, but still Harry was slightly impressed he could preform magic on even that level. The pixies wrecked shit for about five minutes, where they at that point destroyed the classroom, and stole Lockharts wand, before Harry interceded again winning another twenty points for his house.

After that Harry had charms with the Gryffindors, and Neville finally got to explain to him what had happened last night. Apparently they had missed the train, but his mum wasn't there because he had stayed at Ron's house the night before, and they were forced to floo to the Headmasters office after waiting on Ron's parents for over an hour. Neville expressed his disappointment and ire at Ron for being so slow, but shrugged it off by the end of his rant, and laughed.

The boys attitude quickly took a dive though when Harry told him about Jack, "I'm sorry Harry, but the only thing I can do is talk to him. I missed him this morning because I was having a lie in, but I will get him alone tonight, and maybe get him to cooperate with you. Besides I think he would rather train with me once he finds out exactly what time you guys get up in the morning."

Harry thanked the boy profusely and the lesson with Professor Flitwick went astounding as usual. The diminutive professor did however tell Harry that after the first match of the year, Ravenclaw vs. Hufflepuff that he would be training Harry once a week, and expecting Harry to advance in his learning.

Lily had also confronted him after dinner, and demanded to know what he and Jack were actually fighting about. After a bit of fighting Harry admitted that he didn't want Jack training with him, because of what it actually stood for. After that the women had softened and told him, that his dad wanted him to call him on his mirror to talk about the animagus transformation in detail so they could record progress.

Harry had mastered just about every little starter step to becoming an animagus, but now he needed to take a potion that would ready just after Halloween to tell him what animal he was. Sirius told him that basically the very next day he would be able to start partial transfiguration, and about six months after that he would turn fully into what his animal may be.

Unfortunately Harry was a little nervous because he had heard horror stories from people like Dumbledore, who turned out to be useless things like a goat. Knowing who his family was though he tried to not give up hope.

On his two wanded dueling he was actually finally starting to break his practice wands that his father was giving him, which meant the coming Summer he would be able to actually get a legitimate secondary wand, and be able to start applying it to everyday dueling.

Those were the thoughts that clouded Harry's mind at the end of the first day of school. He had hung around his common room for a bit, and talked with his friends, and Cedric had actually cornered him to get his opinion on Sally-Anne that night, "I don't know dude. I want to say Pureblood supremacist, but she just doesn't seem like she has all her fruit in one basket if you know what I'm saying. I feel like she could be bi-polar or something. Last night she flirted with me, this morning she verbally and calmly ripped me to pieces, and then at dinner she was asking me politely to pass the potatoes. She then proceeded to have a fairly pleasant conversation with me. I don't get it man. Besides what's the interest? Isn't she a little young for you?"

Cedric punched Harry in the arm, "That's not funny Harry. I had to check with my dad to be sure, but he wrote me back this afternoon and told me that Sally-Anne was my first cousin."

Harry's jaw dropped. Cedric had almost no family outside his dad. He had some honorary uncles like Harry, but his dad was an only child, and he never talked about any aunts on his mom's side, so this was a surprise, "How's that work in your family tree?"

Cedric smiled, "My mum had a brother that moved to France when they graduated from Hogwarts, by the way her maiden name was Perkins. And my dad confirmed that he had a daughter that he had thought was attending Beauxbatons and that she was about two or three years younger than me. I have also never known of any other Perkins in the magical world, so I had my suspicions, but I didn't want to ask her and be super uncomfortable so I wrote to my dad."

Harry whistled, "I better go ask my mum if my dad or she have any other siblings I need to know about, but Sally-Anne doesn't seem to bad, and if you get to know her you might grow on each other, and as small as our blood families are, it never hurts to have more family out there right?"

Cedric nodded smiling, "This is a close one to. I've never had a big family, and I know you haven't either because of the war, so maybe this is a blessing."

Harry patted the boy on the back, "So when are you going to confront her?"

Shrugging Cedric said, "Maybe tomorrow. Its getting kind of late tonight. In fact since we are going to be up early, I am going to call it a night. Goodnight Harry, and thanks for listening."

Harry nodded at the boy, and said his goodnight as well, hoping that everything worked out for the best with his friends family.

**(A/N) Okay so from here I will be trying to update twice a week! I will update Thursday or Wednesday every week, most likely Thursdays, but if I have time on Wednesday I will go ahead and post. Thank you for your continued report, and please review!**


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

The next few weeks would pass, and everyone was breaking into a pretty good routine. The Hufflepuff training core had been great, and the dueling/quidditch try outs, went great. It had been confirmed on the first Saturday of the school year that 1/3 of the dueling team would be second year students. Ernie took the #12 seed, Hannah the #11, and Susan the #10. Harry ended up taking the third seed spot, and would now be the last man standing before anyone fought Darrel. Cedric took #2, and Heidi took #4. Most of the rest of the team had been around last year, Malcolm, Tamsin, Anthony, and one other who was now a seventh year students who hadn't been on the team last year. No first years had made or tried out for the team!

In the quidditch tryouts Ernie McMillan ended up taking the Keeper spot, but it was close. A girl from Cedric's year had tried out, and almost beat the boy, but she came up short on the last two throws and lost the position.

This meant both teams were pretty stacked, and that the tournament this year would indeed be ugly.

Gryffindor Dueling had picked up Katie Bell, and Jack Potter to their team, making them almost a for sure second best team in the school. Ravenclaw picked up almost half of the second year population due to the number of seventh years they lost last year. Mandy Brocklehurst, Terry Boot, and Anthony Goldstein had joined the team, with Rodger Davies no longer being the captain. Lastly Slytherin had picked up Draco Malfoy and Theodore Nott. This led Harry to believe that this might be the most powerful second year students to ever be on the dueling teams in Hogwarts History, but had no way to check the numbers and be sure.

On another note Cedric and Sally-Anne had become noticeably closer. At first the girl had closed the boy out, but after seeing the genuine look of her across the young man's face she quickly changed her mind, glad to have some more good family in the world.

Speaking of family Jack had come around to Harry's outlook on things. At first the green eyed boy had been furious with Neville, because he told Jack the real reason as to why he had been training so hard, and his brother had been banging on his common room entrance for Harry to come out, and apologized profusely for the way he acted. He also told Harry that he couldn't protect him forever, and for now he would train with Neville.

With a parting thought Jack had warned Harry that Rosalie was most likely to follow him into Hufflepuff, and that this trick wouldn't work twice, and particularly not for her. Harry cringed in realization that he was probably right, and would need to figure out something for the red headed devil, that was basically the next Lily Potter.

It was Halloween, and the school was once again preparing for the feast, but instead Harry was walking to his charms class with plenty of time to spare, but he was behind his friends, because he was held up by Lockhart. It was a beautiful day, and as he passed through the Ravenclaw courtyard in the east wing, Harry noticed a commotion going on, and that his brother was in the group.

Voices were being raised, and he finally paid close enough attention to see that the Gryffindor and Slytherin Quidditch team were arguing over something. Knowing his friends in Gryffindor could handle things themselves, he approached the rapidly escalating situation with caution, but with no sign of a need for violence.

Harry's local worshiper Collin Creevy was among the group as well, clearly with Jack, while Draco Malfoy was at the forefront of the Slytherin team with a clearly boastful smile.

His curiosity finally got the better of him when he asked, "Everything alright here Wood?"

Oliver who was practically screaming at Flint turned to Harry, "Please tell me you aren't here to tell me that Hufflepuff is taking the pitch today too?"

Harry looked at the boy strangely, "No, everyone who has ears has heard that you had the pitch today. Gryffindor has been robbed of the pitch twice already, why would Hufflepuff take it from you?"

Neville addressed Harry casually, "Three times now, Slytherin has permission to take the field in order to train their new seeker. You can let Diggory know that Hufflepuff can break the scoring record in a few months, since he probably won't even have to play to beat Malfoy."

Harry chuckled slightly as the whole Slytherin team turned a little red. It was no secret that perhaps other than Ron Weasley, no one hated Draco more than Neville. It was at this moment that Harry noticed the beautiful seven black brooms, "Nice brooms Malfoy."

Flint smirked at the young man, "A gift from Draco's father."

Clapping a few times Harry added, "A donation before or after Draco tried out?"

Draco growled out, "What's it to you Potter?"

Harry shrugged, "I was just wondering. A waste of money if you ask me, unless you think a couple thousands galleons is going to replace three hundred point defeat that you suffered last year, you are sadly mistaken."

Flint took an offensive step forward, "You just keep talking trash Potter. With these new brooms your defense won't even be able to see as we fly back and fourth to the pitch laying waste to your new Keeper, who is now Hogwarts worst player."

Looking back to Jack, Harry noticed the boy looked calm, but clearly furious at Malfoys purchase, "Jack would you come here for a second."

Jack looked at his teammates, and respectably his captain before taking a few steps forward to his brothers side, "Do you just happen to know when your head of house birthday is?"

Not knowing where his brother was going with this he shook his head, "Its November first, Harry."

Harry looked to the sky as if he was telling the time and date, "Its Halloween tonight isn't it? And tomorrow is her birthday and the first match of the season then right?"

Neville who seemed to see where this was going grinned, "Your right Harry."

Turning to Oliver Harry tried not to laugh at the young man's confusion, but he kept his cool, "Oliver, I don't know if you know this or not, but my dad was one of Mccgonagals favorite students back in the day, and her my dad's favorite teacher. I think if you and Jack reached out to my mother, and in turn my father before the days end, I am sure between him and Lord Black you might be able to give your head of house one hell of a Birthday gift."

Oliver and Jack exchanged looks and Collin Creevy just couldn't help it, but interjected, "Take that Malfoy you dirty snake!"

Malfoy looked murderous at the turn of events and practically screamed at the first year, "No one asked for your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood."

Harry, and some of the others flinched at his words, while Collin was clearly oblivious as to what had been said. Harry walked straight up to Malfoy however staring down into his eyes, "Why don't you say that again Malfoy. I know you didn't just use a very nasty derogative that refers to my mother, because if you did that would just be plain stupid."

Harry felt his wand twitch in his pocket, clearly feeling the spike in his magic. He bit down on his Occulmency shields, and prepared to draw his wand if necessary, but surprisingly Flint was the one to step up towards the two, "And what if he did Potter, are you threatening my player."

Dropping his wand into his hand now, Harry growled, "Your damn right I am."

A tense moment passed, and no one moved. The oldest Potter son could see the gears whirling in Flints head, and it was clear that their last duel was playing through his mind, "You'll get yours Potter. I'll see to it myself."

With that Flint turned and walked away, with his team behind him. Before they could get out of earshot Harry barked out, "I didn't hear an apology Malfoy."

Draco turned around to likely spitfire at the boy, but Flint put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head, before Malfoy spoke, "I don't apologize to lowly half blood trash."

With that the rest of the Slytherin's seemed to find it wisest to disappear. Harry turned to face his friends in the house of lions, "Everyone good here?"

Jack looked at his brother in awe, "You faced down the entire team of Slytherin and basically forced them into submission."

Neville laughed patting Harry's brother on the shoulder, "Harry handed the ass whooping of the year to Flint last year. Plus they knew between Oliver and I, who are respectably almost the top duelist in our house for the team that he wouldn't have stood a chance if it came to trading spells."

Oliver however broke the moment, "Potter did you really mean it? Do you think your dad will gift seven Nimbus two thousands, or two thousands ones to Hogwarts?"

Harry grinned, "I think my mother has a free period right now, why don't you guys go find out just how dedicated my dad is to quidditch. Jack make sure you tell dad the Marauder code, and he will understand."

Jack laughed knowing that a prank was in the midst of being pulled, and that Harry was going to perform the coup d'etat. Oliver stepped forward and ferociously shook Harry's hand, and promised that if the boy needed anything that he would do his best to help. With that Wood led his team away, and Harry went to his charms class preparing his apology to Professor Flitwick.

Later that night at the feast Harry was enjoying a nice meal with his housemates and having pleasant conversations about how the year was going. He had told no one just yet about his confrontation with the Slytherin quidditch team, because he had hopes that his dad was going to come through and help with this prank. Right after charms that afternoon Harry had called his dad on his two way mirror and informed him precisely of what had happened, and then told him his plan. Funnily enough, his dad had never looked prouder of any accomplishment in Harry's life when he laughed and told him that he would be talking to Sirius in the next thirty minutes and prepare the execution of the plan.

Harry was talking with Hannah about the matches tomorrow, while the others were having their own conversation. The green eyed boy did note that Susan was being hit on by Ernie, and wondered if she would susceptible to the charming young man. They would make a powerful young couple for the light, but Harry knew it was probably to soon to put his eggs in that basket.

Cedric was sitting a pretty good ways down talking with Sally-Anne, and Darrel was holding hands with Heidi smiling at the girl as if she were the only person in the room. Turning his attention back to Hannah he noticed the girl was looking intently at him with her blue eyes. It was no secret that the girl would be a beautiful women in just a few years, as she was already admittedly a pretty girl. Harry hoped that in the many years to come they would still be friends, and enjoy the benefits of having a beautiful friend. It was at that moment Harry thanked fate that Sirius had instilled the ways of charming girls, and looked forward to trying it out in maybe just a short amount of time.

Glancing around the hall he realized many present were reminiscing just what their family had lost during the last war, and hoped that whatever happened to night would help them forget, and have positive thoughts, if even it were only for a few minutes.

Harry had almost lost track of time when he saw his mother shoot a messenger charm at him, with the paper airplane. It went unnoticed by most of the hall, but the few around him did catch the encounter. When Harry opened the note he grinned, and turned to Hannah, "Its show time!"

The girl looked at him confusedly, but when Harry flashed her a wide smile she grinned as well. Harry stood and began walking down the great hall towards the teachers table. The hall went a little quieter, but not much. Once Harry made it to the front of the hall he stood in front of the staff table in the center, and bowed. He had discreetly dropped a note off with the Gargoyle in front of his office using his invisibility cloak after the lessons and only said, "For Minerva and Hogwarts."

Dumbledore was smiling positively down at his young pupil, as the hall had descended into whispers, "Mr. Potter, is there something you wish to share with your paid respect?"

Harry looked up with a smirk on his face, "Headmaster in fact there is. With your permission I would like to address the hall, as well as the staff."

The headmaster had no reason not to trust the young man so nodded his head, "You may."

Harry turned on his heel and face the hall with confidence, "For over twenty generations the Potters have walked the halls of Hogwarts. I have been told that even before the Dark Lord fell on this night eleven years ago, Halloween was a big deal. However due to the circumstances it has tainted many families, including my own. I may not have loss as much as some, but that doesn't mean we won't have to sacrifice more, for the Potter's have always fought for the light, and generally on the front lines."

The hall was now completely silent. No where in a Hogwarts History would it mention that a second year had ever addressed the entire school, but then again, at no point during Hogwarts a History had it housed a survivor of the killing curse, who would be known as the boy-who-lived, "Most Potter's come to Hogwarts with prior magical knowledge. But it is not necessarily the educational values that we take with us from Hogwarts, but the ethical value, and the beauty of friendship. Friendship above all else is something Potter's value. It is no wonder how all of us go to Gryffindor or Hufflepuff in my case, and tonight we would like to thank Hogwarts and a certain professor. In a way this is the house of Potter giving back a little to the invaluable lessons we have received. But first I need to open the doors back to three of Hogwarts most Infamous students."

Harry drew his wand and flicked it at the Great Hall Doors, causing them to open. Three animals stood patiently as the doors opened they came down the hall in a dramatic fashion. A dog, a wolf, and a stag, were proudly walking down the aisles of the great hall. When they made it to the end, Harry glanced at the headmaster whose eyes were swimming with mirth, "Ladies and Gentlmen may I present the Marauders. Mooney, Padfoot, and Prongs!"

The three animals bowed together, and then shifted for the hall to see. James Potter was grinning like a mad man, while Sirius also seemed to have the familiar mischievous glint in his eyes, and lastly Remus looked like he had been tough to convince to do this tonight. James Potter stepped forward, "Good evening Hogwarts. For those of you who don't know me my name is James Charlus Potter. I am currently the head of house Potter. The mutt on my right is Sirius Orion Black, the head of house of Black, while the wolf is Remus Lupin, the co-creator of the Wolfsbane potion, and a brilliant spell creator. We are here to honor a friend. Well actually were here to honor many friends."

Sirius took it from there, "During the first Wizarding war we all lost a lot of people. Even in our time at Hogwarts some of us became consumed with the war, and lost the joys that the school had to offer. Some of us even turned on each other, but today were are in a time of peace."

Remus came in at that point, "And the three of us all shared a passion in school, that we have seen many in this room share today. So in order to honor the school, and our old head of house we came bearing gifts."

The three men drew their wands and casted a non verbal spell towards the back wall where seven broomsticks came flying into the room. James Potter walked in front of the seven broomsticks and turned to the staff, "Respective, and esteemed professors. I know one of you has a rather special day tomorrow, but seeing as it will be spent on the quidditch pitch we know that it will be put on the back legs. So in order to celebrate one of your colleagues birthday the three of us have decided to gift the school of our youth. To the Gryffindor quidditch team we gift seven Nimbus two thousands ones!"

The Gryffindor table erupted into cheers, while James held his hands up for silence, "Now we are giving these as a gift to not just the school, but our old quidditch crazed head of house!"

With this the three threw spells towards the plates and silverware, and transfigured them into a large poster with writing on it saying 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY MINNIE!'

The crowd clapped politely, but the Gryffindor table was going nuts screaming the chants of Gryffindor. Dumbledore however stood politely clapping as well while saying, "Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, Mr. Lupin, I would first like to thank you for your generous donation, and I would like to be fourth to wish one of my oldest colleague and friends a happy birthday. However I have known the Potter family a long time, and I suspect there is more to this donation?"

Sirius Black being the man he was laughed, "It doesn't take a master legillmens to know the marauders have more to say Headmaster. Now while the nimbus two thousands ones are a gift for Gryffindor only, we bought last years models, and well we bought a few of them!"

The only casted a wide accio and this time twenty, thirty, forty brooms came flying in and the crowd was shocked to silence. Lupin took the stage, "We didn't want to give any far reaching advantage to any quidditch team seeing as our nephew, is on the Hufflepuff team. So we put together our heads and talked to our old classmate and the quidditch shop and ordered a total of fifty five brooms for Hogwarts. I think most of the student body remembers what happened last year to Ms. Abbot, and since we hope to prevent further accidents we are replacing the school brooms in hope to prevent any further heroics from our nephew/son."

James added, "It is our hope that the houses and students of the school will be able to enjoy recreational flying outside of quidditch, and even times of distress be able to enjoy a sport or hobby that brought many of my favorite memories of my youth."

Sirius added, "It was also our understanding that Lord Malfoy had given a rather generous donation, so we felt obligated to do the same for our favorite Hogwarts Professor in hope that we could make her day."

Remus offered his hand and a bow to the crowd, while the Marauders said together "For Hogwarts and Minerva!

The hall roared its approval, and the Marauders bowed lowly. Harry had backed away slowly while the Marauders took the show, but when it was over his dad had approached him for a hug, and he clasped one hand and pulled him in for one whispering, "Mischief Managed."

He did this with uncle and godfather, while also returning to his table. Dumbledore stood up once the crowd had calmed, "On behalf of Hogwarts we graciously accept the donation that House Potter, Black, and Lupin give, and welcome them among friends tonight. Please let us enjoy the rest of the feast, and perhaps Monday the respective years of our students can have a free period for flying to break in the new brooms!"

The hall once again showed its approval of his words by cheering, and at that point a small shy girl with red hair walked in with another familiar women, and baby. The women was Harry's aunt Emmeline, and the baby was his little cousin, and the black family heir. The little girl however was Harry's little sister, whom he had not seen since the train ride, as things had been very hectic.

When the two made eye contact they came towards each other, and embraced happily. Most of the hall was watching the two, but didn't seem to comment on the show of affection. The Hufflepuff table welcomed him back as a hero, and Professor Sprout scrambled down to say, "I sense a badger in you Ms Potter, perhaps you would like to join us for dinner tonight?"

The little girl nodded shyly, but happily behind her brother, and the two took their seats. Harry took a quick glance at his brother who appeared to be on cloud nine with all the attention and back pats he was getting from his house.

Harry however was being bombarded with questions since he had sat down at his table, but it was Cedric's question that got his attention, "Hey Harry? If your dad and uncles ordered fifty five brooms, and only 47 of them were accounted for, what happened to the other eight, or cannot I count right?"

Rosalie took it from there, "Think about it Ced. My dad wouldn't really allow one of his sons to have an unfair advantage of the other, so the solution would be to get a few extra Nimbus two thousand ones."

Darrel who seemed to be getting it asked, "But still there are eight brooms, and there only seven players for Hufflepuff. Is he just going to get one for Ravenclaw?"

Harry was going to answer, but his sister was on a role, "Now now, you forgot a few certain points. One would be that Harry already has a Nimbus 2001, so does Neville, and Jack. So there are actually eleven Nimbus two thousand ones which will not be given out to the everyday fliers, which leaves each of the remaining houses with five a piece, and one remaining. Now I don't know about you guys, but the Keepers don't really need much speed behind their brooms, and most of the time the beaters are just floating around trying to find bludgers to smack people with, so what is done with the brooms I am sure will come down to the captain's decision. If it were me though I would equip my other two chasers, both my beaters, and my seeker. Which would mean that you would have no need for a sixth broom, which you could give to Ravenclaw."

The others looked at the young girl with opened mouths, while Harry threw his arm around her, "And that my friend is what the Potter family love for quidditch will do for you!"

Ernie however asked, "Does that mean after all that happened between you and Davies that punk is going to get a gift from house Potter?"

Rosalie who was still unhappy with the previous situation shot that down angrily, "That idiot won't get a thing from House Potter. It was a stipulation in the donation that I saw. No person who has been accused or convicted of harming house Potter in anyway can get the brooms for any uses at all. Which means while Ravenclaw may have six brooms to use, there star player can't have one. Though if money talks the way I think it does, I am sure the pretty boy step child will have a Nimbus 2001 before the match in two weeks."

The table snickered at her description of the boy, and the table went back to conversing freely. When Harry looked back up at the table he saw his dad sitting next to his mum holding her hand with a smile, while the other two Marauders sat in front of the table, in front of their head of house holding a pleasant conversation with the women. When Harry made eye contact with each of them, they raised their glasses to him on a prank well executed.

When the feast was over, Dumbledore thanked the Marauders again for their generous gift, and dismissed the houses back to their dormitories. Harry hugged his sister one last time and promised to see her tomorrow at the match, while he followed Hannah and Susan out of the great hall with the rest of his classmates. The entire school was funneling in one direction until they came to a split where the crowd stopped moving, and mumbling started from the front.

At first Harry thought it was just a hold up at the stairs, but the mumbling kept growing, and Harry started to push his way towards the front to see what the hold up was. When he got to the front he could see a hanging Mrs. Norris, with her tail being tied up to some torch like thing. That however was only partially what the crowd was talking about as he turned to see what everyone was really looked at.

A message that looked to be written in blood on the wall was there for the students of Hogwarts to see, "**The Chamber of Secrets has been reopened. Enemies of the Heir Beware."**

**(A/N) Sorry for the late update. My brother went missing about two weeks ago, and since he lives so far up north from us, everyone thought he was just busy. So we have been attempting to locate him, and things have just been hectic, so I apologize for my tardiness. I also apologize for the middle of the chapter. I lost my original version of it, so please if you find any inconsistencies or loop holes, review them or PM me about it so I can fix it! My next update will be Sunday, so please review, and let the games begin!**


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

The next day at the quidditch match the message on the wall was all anyone could talk about. The teachers had all been pretty hushed about it, none clearly wanting to reveal the nasty secret of the school. Harry thought about seeking out the headmaster and asking him for information, but figured if it had to do with something he needed to know the old man would let him know.

Despite the exciting events of the previous evening, when the quidditch match was getting ready to start the attention of the school was undivided. The Hufflepuffs stood firmly behind Harry, who stood firmly behind his brother on his first match as a chaser for Hogwarts. Jack had replaced Angelina Johnson who was asked to step down from the team by the head of house due to her failing grades, and her now OWL year upon her. The girl had been reluctant to let Gryffindor down, but after watching the middle Potter child play, it was clear that the team would not be stepping down without her.

The match between Gryffindor and Slytherin had been a pretty close one surprisingly. On equally matched brooms Harry thought it would be a blow out, but Slytherin's keeper had gotten much better over the summer. However with Oliver Wood in the other goal post, not many goals were going to be scored regardless. Jack scored five goals, while Katie Bell score three, and Alicia Spinnet scored six. The Slytherin opposition only scored six goals all together, with Marcus Flint only scoring two. After the fourteenth goal of Gryffindor had been scored Neville smoothly swooped in at the snitch with Malfoy no where in site, ending the game 290-60. Harry was proud of his little brother, who like himself pulled off his first game at Hogwarts as a victory.

It was a good day of celebrations, and the week would go by quick approaching the first set of dueling matches between Gryffindor and Slytherin.

Jack being a first year for his first tournament got put at the twelve seed, and had the opportunity to start off the season just like his brother did. Jack wowed the school by defeating three duelist. His first being Draco Malfoy, with whom he wiped the floor with. He then proceeded to have an even closer fight with Theodore Nott, and nearly lost to Lisa Rosier, a third year Slytherin, but managed to pull off a stunning victory with the use of his ice charm. Unfortunately he couldn't approach his brothers record of defeating four duelist, because he was crushed by Hestia Carrow who was also a third year Slytherin who seemed to have improved much since last years duel, and beat him in the opening few spells.

The next duelist was Cormac Mclagen a Gryffindor third year, and his arrogance got him beaten by Hestia Carrow as well, but Katie Bell came out and put a stop to the madness, but only for a short time because Flora Carrow came out to beat her. It ended up taking Fred to beat her, and then a long duel between him and Marcus Flint commenced, where he managed to beat Fred and George, and Oliver came out and crushed the boy. Leading to a fight between Olliver Wood, and Adrian Pucey, where Pucey's spell variety proved to much to Olivers speed and power, and Gryffindor lost their first match of the season.

Jack was a little disappointed, but in the end he was satisfied with his performance. With Neville and Percy fighting the next day Gryffindor was easily able to seize a victory for day two of the dueling match leaving the house of lions 1-0 in Quidditch, and 1-1 in dueling.

The following week lead up to the Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw rivalry. There were lots of bets being placed on the dueling matches, which wouldn't take place till the week after quidditch, but not many people were willing to bet on Davies chances of winning the quidditch match. It was well known that Hufflepuff had the best Chaser set, and Ravenclaw had arguably the worst keeper, though that might change with Ernie. Cedric and Harry discussed in private though, that even if Ernie choked in his first game, the chasers were defensive enough in the Hufflepuff house to be able to shut down their offense either way. Needless to say the team wasn't stressing until the day of the match, and that was more nerves than anything else. The pressure of last years success riding on the team.

Harry sat in the locker room stretching with his teammates all laughing and keeping it light, and when the whistles were being blown the players took the field on their new broomsticks, determined to make a name for themselves, and continue the dynasty that they had only just begun.

When the team took the field, Harry smirked, and flew around showing off and doing tricks on his broom with the roaring approval of the crowd behind him. After about five minutes of introductions, and cheering, the team gathered around in the air in a large circle like usual. Madame Hooche was standing underneath the players talking about the rules of the day, and before Harry knew it the quaffle was in the air, and him being the fastest chaser on the team, and in the school, he barreled forward taking the ball straight from under Rodger Davies and lazily throwing it back to Heidi who was already half way to the goal set. With a quick maneuver between Heidi and Malcolm the first goal of the Hufflepuff season was scored.

Having not forgotten last years accident, and the moment Rodger Davies received the ball, Darrel and Anthony Rickett plagued him with two break neck speed bludgers, distracting him enough for Harry to sweep over him taking the quaffle and driving it to Grant Page's throat, making the lead already 20-0.

Smiling at the teams luck Harry thought to himself that Ernie might just get bored over there. This thought however was quickly put to rest with a young chaser for Ravenclaw was bolting down the field, almost completely missed the Hufflepuff defense, but when the chaser took his shot Ernie deflected it. It was close, but he managed to get it and inbound it to Harry whom did a great passing drill between all three chasers, and in the end slammed it against the furthest goal, making it 30-0.

With two goals being scored by Harry in the first two minutes, the Ravenclaw beaters attempted to focus on him. Robert Hillard was being particularly nasty towards him, until Cedric "Accidentally" ran into the back of the kids broom, which left him unable to dodge Darrel's bludger which nailed him straight in the face. It was a rather gruesome attack, but when Harry would ask later, Cedric would shrug and say that he still looked better than Harry had after the last attack.

The match would go down as one of the shortest and most painful losses in Hogwarts a history, because after 20 minutes Cedric caught the snitch and ended the game 330-20. Eighteen goals had been scored by the Hufflepuff offense and Harry and Heidi together put together 14 of those. Harry put up eight and the other chaser managed to put up six. Malcolm had put together the other four, and the only scorer on the Ravenclaw offense was the nameless second or third year student who was a speed demon on the new nimbus 2001 that was donated to the Ravenclaw team.

The celebrations were alive, and Cedric was positively beaming with already having taken 1st place after only one very short game. Later Heidi and Harry would joke that if Cedric hadn't ended the game so fast it might have been the highest scoring game in Hogwarts a History, which was only 520 points. Had the game lasted an hour or so, the Hufflepuff offense very well may have made that goal as well.

The party in Hufflepuff that night was pretty great, and Harry was glad he got to spend sometime with his sister, and parents, he knew that the following day would be an important one so didn't stay up very late with the rest of the parties.

Sunday and Saturdays were the only days that the whole group did not train with Harry. On Sunday's actually it was usually just Harry, so instead of going to do his training like he usually did, he went over to meet his mum and dad in her private quarters.

Upon arrival James Potter was the only one awake, while he spoke with a tired smile, "Good timing Prongslet. Your mum is still down for the count, but I wanted to talk to you before I gave you the potion."

James motioned for Harry to take a seat across from him, as this was going to be a father to son talk. When Harry had taken his seat James didn't see a need to beat around the bush, "I know Sirius and I have teased you a lot over the years on what your animagus form could be, but I just want you to know before I give you this potion that no matter what you are, its not going to change the way we all see you. Now would I like for you to be a big stag like your old man, hell yeah I would, but if not, I wouldn't mind you being anything else, but a dog...because I might disown you if we have another mutt in the house!"

Harry laughed at his dads attempt of humor, but it wasn't as effective since it was so early in the morning. James then gave the young man a small smile, "Harry you are doing something that has never been accomplished at your age before. I truly believe that you will be the youngest animagus to ever be known to our world, and I am so proud of you...Now that we have gotten through this chick stuff though I want to tell you that you will be down for 12 hours, so the next thing you will be catching is dinner, but don't worry you won't be too hungry, as your body will be in a stasis. Lastly remember to-"

"Check every single detail possible, because its not just the animal that is important, but the exact species as well. I know dad I'm ready!"

James Potter gave one last proud look to his son, and offered the potion vial from the table, "Bottoms up then!"

Harry grinned, and took the whole vial down in one go. The taste was surprisingly good, but the texture of the drink was disgusting. It felt like it was alive. The green eyed boy tried to stand, but his legs didn't seem to cooperate with him. The last thing he remembered was falling into his dads arms, and watching the light fade from his world.

In the dream state Harry saw many things. At first he couldn't see much as he was flying off the ground at a pretty fast rate. He was moving around clearly looking for food, but what type he wasn't quite sure of.

The boy who lived was fully cognizant, but there were so few details forming in his mind, he wasn't quite sure what was really happening. He didn't have the best vision, and that suggested that he wasn't a bird like he had originally guessed, but how else was he flying through the air like this?

The trees around him were rather thick, which suggested a jungle area, and the temperature around him seemed very humid which supported his theory.

After some time of looking for some food he landed on the ground, and from what he could tell he was rather tall. He was still moving pretty fast, but it was different than when he was moving through the trees. Now that he was on the ground though he couldn't pull himself to fly again which confused him for only a few minutes. Then however he realized that he hadn't been flying earlier, he had been swinging. He looked above him to see that there were indeed many vines in the top of the trees, which would've allowed him to get by faster.

Once this connection was made he wasn't in a jungle anymore, but an open field. He walked a little more cautiously this time, and he made it a pretty good distance before he made it to a clearing with water. When he reached the water initially it was very cloudy, but after a short time the water cleared up and Harry saw himself.

At first he was scared, but then he felt the moment of triumph that he was going to be no measly goat, and he tilted his head back, roared, and slammed his fist into chest multiple times letting out a feral roar.

Jolting awake Harry was gasping for air, and when he reached for his wand to defend himself he remembered where he was. He rapidly looked around for his mum or dad, but instead found a note that he had gone down to spend the evening with the good professor, and that they would probably still be in the great hall when he woke up.

Quickly the young man gathered his wits and checked his appearance before heading down to join the rest of the school for dinner. When he made it to the hall many eyes went to him, but most of them were brief.

When his dad saw him he quickly got up from the staff table and ran down to greet his son. When they reached each other, James asked, "Well how did it go?"

Harry grinned, "I think I am something different."

James looked a bit relieved, "Thank Merlin, are you sure your not a dog of any kind? Your godfather bet me a thousand galleons years ago that you would follow in his animagus footsteps."

Chuckling the young man responded, "No I am definitely no kind of canine."

Crossing his arms and leading his son away from the students who were trying to catch their conversation, "Well don't leave me in suspense, what are you?"

Shaking his head Harry responded cheekily, "Can't you wait for a good surprise?"

Without hesitation the father responded, "Nope!"

Sighing Harry took a far away look in his eyes, "Over the Summer the girls and I went to that amusement park do you remember?"

James looked confused, but nodded his head, "Yeah your mum was really excited about you guys going, and insisted that we all take a family trip to one this Summer, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"I met a magical creature there, or at least I think it was magical. He was the familiar of some wizard who was performing stage tricks, but the creature seemed to almost recognize me, like it knew what my animagus was going to be." Harry explained.

James frowned, "Animagus can't be magical creatures Harry."

Nodding his head in agreement he conceded, "I know, but the animal I saw in the reflection of the water was a low land gorilla, just like the form of the creature I dealt with at the park. The wizard whom was working with his familiar said I was probably something special, and powerful in the ways of the light, but it didn't make sense to me at the time. Now I feel like I just completed a puzzle."

Smiling the man put a hand on his son's shoulder, "I remember when I made my animalistic connection. It felt like I had found a missing part of me. You'll find it interesting I am sure to research your animal, which will be important. We may be able to get your transformation down in the few months if we really worked at it."

Harry grinned at his father, "I'm glad you'll be able to walk me through this one, I am not sure I could've down this alone."

Swinging an arm around his oldest son as they walked towards his table, "And you won't have to! Your uncles and I will be there to walk you through every step of the way!"

The two went there separate ways at that point with Harry joining his friends for dinner, and telling them a lame excuse for where he was all day. He had told them that his mum was yelling at him for cutting back on so much sleep due to his training, and that she had given him a dreamless sleep draught. His friends knew he didn't sleep very well at nights, and that it sounded like something Lily Potter would do as a protective mother.

It wasn't that he didn't trust his friends with the secret, but he kind of wanted it to be a surprise. They all knew he was working on it, but he was sure they all thought he was at least a year or two away. He looked forward to surprising everyone, especially Hannah and Susan with whom he got to share his original encounter with his animagus form.

The dueling match was going rather well. Hufflepuff was soundly smashing Ravenclaw into the ground with pure might. The day before the Hufflepuff seed 2,4,6,8,10,12, utterly crushed the house of eagles. Ernie took an easy win off Terry Boot, but then lost to Cho Chang. Susan however showed up and soundly beat the pretty, senior Asian girl in a little under a minute. She went on to beat the #8 seed who was one of the new beaters from the Ravenclaw team. After she lost it Tamsin came up and defeated the boy, but followed that up with a loss. The #6 seed on Hufflepuff was Malcolm and he went down and won two duels in a row, before being defeated by the #2 seed, and new Ravenclaw dueling captain which was Penelope Clearwater.

What followed would be a very long duel between Heidi and Penelope. They dueled to the point of near exhaustion where Penelope was able to banish the girl off the platform. This had been very impressive to Harry. Heidi trained everyday, and though she had a years less of experience, she was still a very talented dueler, which made the young man question just what Penelope was doing in her spare time. The following duel was quick, and Cedric pretty easily handled a very tired Ravenclaw captain.

Today it was the other side of the teams turn to take it 2-0. It started off pretty off pretty well with Hannah beating the other #11 seed with a tricky water charm to the face, which was Luna Lovegood, and the #9 seed with a violent barrage of stunners, but Harry was not familiar with the girl she beat. But when she lost things quickly went down hill. Ravenclaw's number seven seed was a rather powerful Marietta Edgecomb. Harry was surprised to see the girl had improved so much, and only being a third year she took down Hannah, Leanne, and Anthony Rickett. When Seventh Year prefect Gabriel Truman a big surprise to the Hufflepuff team stepped in he managed to beat down Edgecomb, but lost to Grant Page, who was clearly wanting to get Harry a lone in the ring after making him look so bad in the match the week before.

Dumbledore called up Harry, but Darrel jumped to his feet, "We initiate the two on two duels, headmaster."

Surprised Harry turned to look at his dueling captain, and when Darrel was by his side, he had never felt more confident. The headmaster nodded, "Ladies and gentlemen for the first time in a few years the Hufflepuff dueling team has decided to start the two on two duels. From here Mr. Grant, and Mr. Hillard will stand in together, and if or when one of them goes down then Ravenclaw #1 seed Rodger Davies will stand in for the last. If either of Hufflepuff duelers go down it will become a two on one duel. Duelers take your positions."

Dumbledore casted a light expansion charm on the platform and it expanded a few feet giving the duelist more room to maneuver. As this happened Harry turned to his captain and quietly said, "What are you doing? Grant stood no chance, and then I would've just had to beat Hillard, and you could've taken Davies."

Darrel shook his head, and glared at the sidelines, "I haven't forgotten what happened last year, and we were never able to act with violence against it. This is going to be a reminder that a badger never forgives, and never forgets when one of their own is attacked."

Harry felt a swell of gratitude come from within him, and he just nodded at his captain, but clearly grateful that his friend was wanting to do this for him, "Alright, then lets do the switch tactic thirty seconds in and get rid of Grant. If we keep this going to long Davies might just come in and finish the fight."

Turning his back to his opponents Harry saw Darrel grin viciously, "They don't stand a chance."

Surprised at hearing his friend so ready to crush his opponents, Harry had to slam his occulmency shields down from just laughing at the normally pacifistic young man. Dumbledore called the duelist through the bows, but neither Hufflepuff was willing to bow to Robert Hillard who might as well be a death eater. The tension in the room spiked when Dumbledore told all four duelist to bow again and none of them moved. Sighing the headmaster sent them all back to their corners, and began the countdown.

At the count of 1 Hillard was moving forward with a barrage of blasting curses, but Harry stepped in front of Darrel and reflecting one of the spell back at him, and batted two of the others away, while having to use his shield to take the last few. Darrel however was wasting no time on Hillard as he went to work on taking down Robert Grant. Harry had yet to be the most powerful dueler in many of his matches, but he was always the fastest. He would later on concede that Hillard had some power, and his precision was pretty good, but after the initial few spells, he lost half of his speed. Harry was working on his five chain spells to hopefully incapacitate Hillard before the fight even came down to it, but Darrel called the switch, but instead of going for just Robert they both bombarded Hillard with a series of blasting curses, and under powered reductos. That was all it took to see the beater of Ravenclaw house go down, and Rodger Davies was in his place. The duel ceased for a moment, and the four just stared at each other.

Not wanting to give up the advantage Darrel stepped forward, "Bombarda!"

A huge blast of power went sweeping down the aisle and knocked both duelist back a solid foot, but neither left the ground as their shields came up just in time. Just as the two were starting to come back with more spells Darrel shouted, "Harry run towards them, shields up!"

Not wanting to question his captain's sanity, Harry started at a sprint forward, attempting to shorten the distance between the four duelist. Hillard and Davies both attempted to blast him off his feet, or even slow him down, but once he got close enough he threw the full body shield that his dad had taught over the summer. It covered him head to toe, and every spell they threw merely ricocheted off. Some were even dangerously close to hitting them. Unfortunately for the two Ravenclaw they were just having to focus on getting through Harry's shields, but blocking Darrel's wide spread stunners. A spell that he had learned in his family grimoire over the summer.

He was also casting these spells behind Harry, so he was nonstop throwing these spells, and the two Ravenclaws eventually had no choice, but to shield. After nearly a minute of this, Harry could tell the spell was starting to drain Darrel, and he told him to let up, and he would attack. The moment Harry dropped his shields, two bone breakers, and a exploding hex came right at him.

The crowd gasped, but Harry spun backwards making sure that his captain was out of harms way, and then returned fire with pure aggression. Curses some people had never even seen before were coming out of Harry's wand, and at the quite the speed. The second year boy was man handling both duelist, and several of his spells were starting to connect.

Bruising charms, stinging hexes, cutting curses, and some mild pranking magic that had caused Davies to lose his hair slowly, but surely started to land, and when Darrel stepped beside Harry they managed to double stun Robert Hillard, and suddenly it was just those two Vs. Rodger Davies, who was on his back foot trying to stay alive through the barrage of spells. When the shield broke Harry hit him with a blaster to the face, while Darrel hit him with the spell _fractura_ in the ribs. The young man cried out and flew backwards off the platform leaving just Harry and Darrel standing with no visible marks other than the beets of sweat that were rolling down their faces.

The crowd from the Hufflepuff side was roaring with approval, while some were clearly questioning why the headmaster allowed borderline lethal magic in a school yard duel. Some had not heard the stories of last years attack, because the Potters kept it very quiet. The veterans in the room whom had an idea what revenged looked like recognized the way the four dueled. This was personal, and the victors were clear.

Harry clasped his captains hands, and brought him in for a man hug, and when the two separated the rest of the team had joined them voicing their excitement for the start of another perfect sports season. Cedric whistled lowly at Harry, "I don't think I've ever seen you duel like that Harry. You managed to handle both of those idiots for a good thirty seconds, and gave Darrel a chance to recover."

Darrel shook his head, "I couldn't believe they blocked those stunners for so long. I could've kept going if I had to, but Harry had things in hand."

Harry took a chance to look over at the boys they had defeated, and saw that they were talking to older men, and they kept taking hateful glances at the green eyed boy. Harry heard a familiar voice behind him, "Robert Hillard Sr, and Jackson Davies, those are those two father's."

Turning to see a proud look James Potter the oldest Potter son smiled, "How'd you like that shield?"

Grinning smugly the Potter Lord shrugged, "You must have had a hell of a teacher!"

Harry laughed and was pulled into a hug by his dad, but was shortly after enveloped by his little sister whom had been worried watching her big brother duel with such violence. When they separated Darrel was beginning to address the team, "Well done everyone, that was two days of very well fought duels, but we must remember not to get cocky. We almost lost this one today, but we pulled it out just fine. In the future it would be better if it was cleaner sailing, making the last few seeds just the clean up crew. Regardless of that, well done everyone, and we are still fighting for two back to back perfect seasons!"

The team and some of the parents that had come to watch clapped, and Darrel dismissed his team to enjoy the rest of their afternoon.

Harry was given the chance to speak briefly with the Abbot Lord and Lady, and it was nothing but praise coming from the parents of his two friends. Madame Bones had even come to watch the days duel even though Susan had gone yesterday. She had also praised him as a future auror, and approved of what the training was doing for her niece both mentally, and physically.

Needless to say both Potter parent's and his little sister had been there to hear the praises, and they were proud of their prodigy of a son. Jack had even come by to congratulate his brother on the win, and convinced the oldest son to let him train with his friends once a week. Harry wasn't thrilled by the agreement, but knew once a week wouldn't hurt.

While things might have seemed pretty calm at school, the oldest Potter had been so busy with his training, studies,and spending times with his friends he began to miss certain things. The holidays may have been approaching fast to give the students some time for leave from school, but when they would come back a new show would begin, and Harry and his friends would be the stars, of a potential tragedy.

**(A/N) First of all, no one is going to die just yet! I was just being ominous to end the chapter, and let people know that the incident with the Chamber of Secrets is about to return in the next chapter.**

**Also people were asking about Hannah and Harry, and I will say this. They are going to be the first pairing. I am taking the ideas of other reviewers and tweaking them a bit, so it is going to start with the two of them, and probably around after the Yule Ball Susan is going to come into the pairing, but I still fully intend for her to be in it. You may think that is far away, but I have already written into the beginning of third year about 10 chapters in advance, so stay tuned and please review!**


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

Leading up the holidays the chamber of secrets incident had been forgotten. Filch was being a larger pain in the ass than usual, but things went on. For Harry, the only two things that wasn't that great at Hogwarts was that one his sister wasn't there, and two that he was constantly getting hateful glares from the older Ravenclaw students, or more specifically Davies, and Hillard. That was however something that would likely never change.

The oldest Potter sons animagus training was going a long pretty spectacularly, and his uncles were excited to hear that he had a pretty different transformation, and immediately began spitting out animagus names, to help continue his maruader legacy. That was a huge topic over Christmas, as was his training with his brother. Harry had no qualms training his brother a bit one on one. It was controlled, and it was set at the pace Harry wanted to set it at, where the pace at school was at the pace of whoever the best was each day, and the group would push themselves to meet that pace. Harry didn't want to put that on his brother, but at home he was more than willing to push the boy to his limits.

Dumbledore had stopped by over the holidays and talked with Harry briefly over the chamber of secrets, and had warned him that he did not believe the situation was over, and that the attack was not some simple prank. His explanation was that it would take something pretty powerful to petrify any type of living creature for more than a few weeks, and the fact that Mrs. Norris was still petrified, led to some worry among the Hogwarts staff. For some reason the headmaster was adamant on the notion that if Harry were to hear anything, that he should report it to him immediately.

That wasn't the only odd visit he had received over the holidays either. Neville had come by in a worse mood than usual, and all he had wanted to do was duel. By the time they had finished the fight to, Harry had to wonder if he had said something that pissed his best friend off, because when he won, Neville left almost immediately, as if he had been offended by something. He had sent the young man a letter the next day after he avoided his floo call, but after not getting an immediate response, he figured something at home must be bothering him.

He spent a little time with Hannah, Susan, and Ernie over the break as they had all gone ice skating in the muggle world, and had a fantastic time together. Megan Jones had actually joined them on their second trip together, and Harry was glad to see that Sally-Anne had joined her, and that the two were getting on splendidly, which hopefully gave Megan someone to hang out with more while Hannah, and Susan were spending time with him.

His Uncle Remus had promised him that for his birthday this coming year he would be ready for a second wand, as the two had gotten to go a few rounds, with Harry using his dads wand, which was slightly volatile in his hands, but he managed to get off a few successful spells with both wands.

His mother had actually started actively quizzing him in Runes as well, trying to get her intelligent son to take more interest in her subject, but honestly Harry only like Runes, because it was a base to wards, and he loved some of those. He also knew he would have to take the class, because one day he wanted to follow his werewolf of an uncles footsteps and maybe go into spell creation.

His animagus training with his dad and godfather Sirius wasn't going very well. The two had an idea that maybe Harry had just not embraced enough of his animal nature yet, or that maybe his power level would just not handle the transformation, because his magic recognized that he may not be able to change straight back. Sirius explained to him that his magic would recognize when it needed to transform, and that the first few times would be the hardest, but later on he would be able to do it easily, and on command. For some people, he was told, that it would take something big to force him to take on his animalist for example: nature, anger, excitement, fear, or some other type of powerful emotion. Harry wasn't sure what he hoped for, but he just wanted to see what it would be like to be in the body of a beast.

When it was time for school to start back, the kids had all gathered on Platform 9 and 3/4s, and Harry assured Rosalie when they said goodbye that the next time they all saw each other on this platform would be the time that they would be talking about her going to Hogwarts in the following year. She made the young man smile however when she said that the days were already being counted until Jack and Harry would come home to her, and play quidditch.

His goodbyes with his uncles and dad were brief, knowing he would be seeing them on the mirrors to see what else they could do to further his training in the coming months. His dad had promised him over the holidays that he was getting closer and closer to learning more advanced magic, but he just needed his core to develop a bit more, and the bigger challenge of convincing his mom to let him learn.

The train ride was always a pleasant experience and he was kind of pissed off that the good atmosphere vibe was ruined by Draco Malfoy who came strutting into his cart claiming, "You best watch yourself this term Potter. Things are happening that you couldn't possibly hope to control. You better keep your pets on a tight leash."

Harry had prepared to threaten the boy, and maybe even curse him, but by the time he got around to it, the boy was already on his way out.

Upon the return to Hogwarts Harry received a note from Professor Slughorn that he was starting up an old club that he used to run, with certain talented students. He was assured that he was invited, and that the dinner would take place on the second week back from school.

After asking his mum about it, she said that the club used to be called the Slug Club, and that it was kind of a way to cross house lines and make good connections that may help later on in life. She explained that the girl whom was studying under her in the unspeakable department was actually a former Slug Club member, and that she met her through Horace Slughorn.

Understanding the value of alliances, Harry decided he would attend the meeting, and he even found out that most of his friends were getting the invitation as well. Jack, Neville, Hannah, Susan, Ernie, Cedric, and Darrel all received invitations, so the Puffs decided to stick together on it, only wishing that Heidi had been invited to. When she was asked why she didn't get an invitation the girl blushed, and said that potions wasn't her strong suit, and that the lecherous looks she always got from the old professor made her a little nervous.

With a girl on each arm though Harry made his way up to the meeting where he was pleasantly surprised by the limited number of people whom had been invited. It seems the six of his friends had been the only invitations to go out, while in Gryffindor other than Neville, and his brother, Cormac Mclaggen, and Percy Weasley were the only other Gryffindors to show up. Harry was thrilled to see that almost no Ravenclaw made the cut, except Penelope Clearwater, while Slytherin had the largest turn out, but that only made sense as he was their head of house. From Slytherin Daphne Greengrass, the Carrow twins, Blaise Zabini, and a few older students he didn't recognize attended, but most notably perhaps was that his mother had decided to join them for dinner.

Lily Potter had not warned her sons that she would be in attendance, and the half hearted smile she gave her boys indicated that she hadn't really wanted to, but had been convinced by her old favorite professor. After Slughorn had greeted all his guest they all sat around a rather large table and had deserts, and talked about some of their famous relatives, or how they became skilled in what they were good at, "Ms. Clearwater you remind me very much of another Muggleborn witch who passed through these halls not so many years ago. Just as brilliant as yourself, and she made quite the name for herself, and she was also of my little club in here. She became Unspeakable right out of Hogwarts, and created spells that the Ministry paid rather handsomely for. Beautiful and smart is about as rare as they come, I have only met a few in my life, and I dare say with the right guidance you have a great chance at becoming just as successful as she has. You must continue on this path of hard work though, I have seen many slip upon the righteous hill!"

It was clear some people around the table didn't quite get who he was referring to, because Cormac asked, "Who exactly was this student you were referring to?"

When no one spoke it was clear not many had actually known Lily Potter was an Unspeakable, because to Harry it seemed most people just faked the understanding. When Horace asked Penelope if she knew whom he was talking about and she shook her head Neville spoke, "Its Professor Potter isn't it?"

Horace beamed at the young man, "As sharp as your parents Mr. Longbottom, indeed it was."

Students that weren't from Slytherin started bombarding the Runes Professor with questions about what it was like to be an unspeakable and she just smiled, "This isn't arrogance when I say that my old department only took the best of the best. They trained us with our wands, and with our minds 18 hours a day for nearly a year. If not for the war, and then having children of my own I would've made a career out of the department, but things took precedent and the Dark Lord was coming for my family. I will say that I have actually helped a former member of this club get into the department, so I insist to all of you, if you are approached by one of my old colleagues, take their invitation. You will learn more about magic in the year with them, then all seven in Hogwarts. Its not for the faint of heart, and its not easy, but it can be very rewarding."

When she said that last part she looked right at Harry, and he understood that had his mum not been recruited by the unspeakable department she may have never gained the knowledge of runes and wards to deflect the killing curse, and that none of them may have been alive to sit in that room had that not happened. Conversation went onto Cedric who was put in a bit of the hot seat at the question, "Now Mr. Diggory I taught both of your parents in my early days of teaching, how is your father doing?"

Cedric put on a forced smile that only his closest friends saw through, "Oh my dad is as always a worker bee. He was a true Hufflepuff that was for sure, always preferring the path to hard work."

Horace laughed, "Aw of course, I will say he had absolutely no talent in potions whats so ever, but he did manage to develop some skill over the years. He deserved the OWL he got, and when he asked me if he should go for a NEWT I laughed and told him it wasn't for everyone, and that it wouldn't be worth his time. Your father has a beautiful drive in him, and I glad to see that without Allison around he is still just as driven."

Silence enveloped the room, but Horace did not seem to notice Cedric tense. Harry had never heard the name before, but from the context of the conversation he assumed that was his mother, "It was a terrible day when I had heard the news of your mother my boy. She was a brilliant witch, from my own house you know?"

This was also news to Harry, he always assumed that Cedric's mother was from Hufflepuff or Gryffindor, but it seemed that was not the case. Cedric even turned up sharply to look at the man, "My mother was in your house?"

Suddenly the potions master looked uncomfortable, "Indeed she was. Lily do you remember her, she was just a few years older than you, I think she graduated when you were a fourth or fifth year?""

Lily who wasn't chosen as an unspeakable for nothing caught on to the rising tension and spoke, "Oh yes marvelous women Professor, perhaps you can share some memories of her with Cedric another time though. Talk of the old war is never pleasant conversation in mixed company."

Slughorn nodded, "Your absolutely right my dear, my apologies Mr. Diggory. Now Mr. and Ms Abbot, how are your parents these days? Those two were a match made in the heavens, and I assume they have a happy marriage?"

Darrel shrugged his shoulders, "They aren't really the type to fight, at least not that we see. I could only assume Professor that our parents are a happy couple."

This caused the man to laugh, "Your father was a political shark in his younger days, and I felt like I was listening to him while you spoke. Do you plan to follow him into the political arena?"

"Well Professor I hadn't put much thought into it. I would like to get on the dueling circuit for a while, and maybe go pro for a few years. I am decent beater, but I am no where near good enough to make it pro in Quidditch. Politics may be in my future, but not until my dad is ready to step down from the position of Lord Abbot. I am not to keen to take it from him either, I know he enjoys running our government." Darrel answered diplomatically.

The Professor nodded his head with a bright smile, "I have seen you duel my boy. You and Mr. Potter fighting side by side was inspiring. Your parents weren't in the same age group growing up, but I have to wonder if there would have been more marauders had they been in the same year!"

Harry asked inquisitively, "My dad and his friends were in this club?"

Lily laughed at the question, "For one night, and they left the place with hell fire in their wake, needless to say the good professor never invited them back!"

Horace chuckled, "That was one of the most interesting night of my life. Suddenly nothing in my office would work, things would randomly catch fire, and the ice cream would not stay frozen. I couldn't understand it."

Harry grinned at the thought of his dad and uncles tearing the room to pieces with pranking mayhem, while the others were chuckling as well, even the Slytherin's whom had seen the Marauders in action. Horace shook his head trying to shake off the demons, but then turned to Hannah, "Now Ms. Abbot you are quite the fierce dueler yourself. I have to wonder just where a couple of second years such as yourself, Ms. Bones, Mr. McMillan, and Mr. Potter adopt such skills from."

Harry had an answer ready for that one though, "All of her our families were terribly affected by the war professor. Our parents all just saw it natural for us to grow up with a bit of dueling training. We weren't taught much spell work, but we were all in pretty good shape, and when the time came to learn actual spells, we were naturals, because our cores were more developed."

Hannah shot Harry a thankful look for the save and Horace just merely nodded as if it were an obvious excuse, "Not a terrible idea then. I have seen you all duel at this point, and I have to say the rest of the houses are in trouble if a few months ago was anything to go by."

Cedric spoke humbly, "We are just trying to do our best, and make the house the best that it can be professor."

The head of Slytherin house smiled at the bright young man, "Its good to see such young people hold such teamwork. Am I correct in the rumors I have heard that your team has picked up 8 consecutive wins, and 4 consecutive wins in Mr Abbots and Mr Diggorys respective teams?"

The two older boys blushed a bit, but nodded. Horace then clapped his hands, "Splendid! Ms. Bones, how is your aunt these days? She was quite the trouble maker when she was in school, and boy was I surprised when she rose to the head of the DMLE."

Susan looked at the older man in shock, "My auntie was trouble maker?"

The man laughed, "Of course she was my dear. Always trying to catch the eye of everyone. She was one of the many that changed when the war started however. She started hanging out with your uncle Edgar, and when they graduated Hogwarts they went straight to the auror academy and the rest is history. She was one of the most powerful witches I had ever taught. Not the best with potions, but her dueling team back in the day was almost as good as yours."

Susan was quite for a few moments, and seemed to want to ask something, but thought better of it for the time being, "My aunt is much like other heads of the ministry though, very busy. I miss her terribly when I am away from home, but I know she is constantly busy, and so am I, which makes things a little easier."

"Indeed, indeed. You have inherited much from your family Ms. Bones, and I look forward to seeing more of your progress."

Ernie was talked to only briefly, but it was clear Slughorn had saved Harry for last, "Now for the boy behind the legend. Harry Potter, your mother was my most brilliant student. A master in my art, and I knew you would be coming to Hogwarts last year, and I hoped that the wizarding world was gaining another Lily Evans, and I was right in that hope. It seems you have become quite the prodigy here at Hogwarts. Beating duelist with twice your magical experience is nothing to shy away from."

Harry saw some of the resentful looks he got from the Slytherin's and decided humbleness would be his best course of action, "Its in my blood professor. Potter's have always been good duelist, because of our aptitude for battle magic. I train for three hours a day every day, and its been tough to get to this point."

Horace grinned crossing his stubby arms, "Being the boy who lived must have had its advantages growing up eh? Then again the stories that are being told about you now are almost as good as the original story of the surviving the killing curse! What can you tell us about what happened last year?"

Harry looked briefly at his mum, who he thought was going to say something, and the women seemed to be internally debating whether she should attest the question. She gave him the slightest nod of her head to indicate he should just answer, "If you are referring to the incident that took place below the school professor I am sure you read all about it in the daily prophet. The truth is that I was running from Professor Quirrel, and got cornered on the third floor. I ran into a room where I fell into a trap door that took us down into a secret corridor below the school. We traded spell fire for several minutes, while I was trying to find some place to get get away from him. He knew some counter to my patronus, and I couldn't get a message off, but we dueled, and then Professor Snape joined the fight. I don't know why he was down there or what he was doing, but together we dueled Quirrel, and a dark creature/wraith. At some point Snape was hit with the torture curse, and I was forced to fight both. That was when Neville came along and cursed the wraith, while Severus took his kill shot at Quirrel. Then it was just Neville and I vs. a wraith. It wasn't an easy fight, and I was lucky to be alive."

Neville added in, "We both were. I had a moment to decide whether I was going to follow my friend or go for help. I chose the right option. Harry was holding his own, but it was our combined power that allowed us to defeat the Wrath. Any pain or trauma was worth seeing my friend make it out alive."

Horace clapped delighted, "Good story boys, and its beautiful to see the Potter Longbottom alliance continue through you two, though the rolls are switched. Neville your father was quite the Hufflepuff, while your mother was a Ravenclaw. It is no surprise that you followed an older tradition though into the house of lions. I am sure your parents are very proud of both of you!"

Silence followed for merely a moment, when he looked at his watch, "Great Scott, it seems I have let time slip from me."

Lily added in cheerfully, "Somethings never change!"

The man beamed at his old student and added, "All you get back to your houses! I would hate for Filch to catch you out of curfew, we might all be sitting in detention next week."

The students all got up to leave, and Harry's mum had asked for him to stay back, and when his friends all looked like they were going to leave him after hours alone again, she assured them that she would walk him back to the common rooms. Hesitantly all his friends left the good professor class, and Harry followed his mum down a few hallways to ensure they had some privacy, "Are you okay?"

The concern in her eyes was touching, but Harry didn't really want to think about it, "I still don't like talking about that night."

Taking some maternal instincts the women wrapped her son into a hug and spoke, "I don't either. I thought we had lost you when we found you. You were unconscious, and Severus was clearly gone. I thought you had been hit with something."

Harry shook his head, "I was fine mum. Severus was the only one who paid the price."

The two went silent for almost a solid minute, when she sighed, "Lets get you back to your common room, we can talk about this more another night."

Harry nodded sadly, his good mood killed. As they were walking quietly however Harry heard a soft voice, "_Kill...Kill...Rip...Kill."_

Harry stopped on the time and looked around strangely. Lily stopped to look back at her son clearly confused as to why he had stopped, "What's wrong?"

"You didn't hear that?"

Lily listened closely for a moment then shook her head, "Your probably just tired."

Nodding quietly he followed for a bit longer down the grand central staircase when he heard it again, "_Kill...Rip...Kill."_

This time Harry drew his wand and cast a revealing charm across the hallway. This time the voice was much louder, as if it were getting closer. Lily stopped watching her son with a bit of alarm and drawing her own wand, "What do you hear?"

Harry shook his head waiting for his spell to reveal something, but he got nothing, "I don't know. Its a voice, the first time it was really quiet, but that time it sounded like it was really close."

Before Lily could respond Harry heard two words fairly loud, "_FLESH FOOD!"_

At these words Harry took off down the staircase and lept to the last step and tried to find the source of the voice. He darted around multiple corners, and when he could no longer hear anything he found a horrifying site. A young Ravenclaw girl was petrified on the ground, and she was unfortunately familiar, because the girl was at his birthday party just this past summer. The girl whom was petrified or dead on the floor, was Hermione Granger, and on the wall a message was painted:

**The Heir of Slytherin has returned. Enemies of the Heir beware.**

**(A/N) Update number two for the week! Reviews have been really low the past few chapters which is saddening, but hopefully with more frequent updates you guys will let me know what you are thinking a bit more! The next chapter will bring the story up to the dueling club I believe, stay tuned!**


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

Rumors had been hitting the Hogwarts mill harder than ever. Finding Hermione Granger's body, and it having been found just like Mrs. Norris with the chamber message written was to close together to be a coincidence. Thankfully no one knew how Harry and Professor Potter had stumbled upon the girl, unfortunately everyone knew that the two had found her though. Harry was grateful that his mother promised to look into what could have caused this immediately, while Mandy Brocklehurst pledged her services to the Runes teacher to help find what had harmed her best friend.

Dumbledore and Harry had got into a pretty one side heated argument about what should be done. Harry wanted to basically call in every favor to get the girl awake again, while Dumbledore insisted that the mandrake draught would be ready in just a few months, probably late March. The young man was outraged that the headmaster was going to leave a student in that state for such a long period of time, and had decided to take things into his own hands.

With the Potter connections they used some influence they had with the goblins to put the word out that the Lord Potter was in need of mandrake restorative, and that they would pay fairly handsomely for it. Within the next week they had gotten a response, and said that they could get it to them by mid February. They tried to wait and see if anyone else was going to have it sooner, but no other word came, as it was just such an uncommon problem these days, and no one had it on hand.

The stress of all that was happening had put a hold on Harry's animagus training, and his two wanded practice. It would be disappointing, but he knew he now had bigger problems, including another threat that was likely coming from within the castle.

A month had passed since Hermione's petrification, and the only thing he had to show for it was aggravation at the arrogance of his defense against the Dark Arts teacher. Lockhart had insisted on multiple occasions that, "If only I could have reached her just a few minutes sooner, I know just the counter spell."

At first Harry thought it was arrogance at least, but then Flitwick informed him it was actually stupidity. There was not a spell currently known to man that could reverse the effects of a petrification.

Dueling training was twice a week with professor Flitwick, and it was about the only thing in his life that was going well. His mom had made him promise to keep the hearing voices things to himself, just for the time being. Harry didn't like keeping something like this from his friends, but he was going to respect his mother's wishes for now, especially since they were backed by his dad and the other maruaders. Harry wasn't all knowing, but figured when that many people went against the idea of telling his friends for other opinions, then perhaps he should take that into account.

It was just two days after the worse valentines day of Harry's life when he received word that they were going to administer the mandrake restorative to Hermione. It was the worse valentines day of his life because that idiot Lockhart had decided that it would be a good idea to allow girls to send valentines day poems/messages to their loved ones or people they admired through dwarves. Unfortunately for his pride he had received a rather embarrassing one that went:

"_His eyes are as green as a __fresh pickled toad__,  
His hair is as dark as a blackboard.  
I wish he was mine, he's truly divine,  
the hero who conquered the __Dark Lord__._"

Harry was of course mortified and all his friends laughed, but he merely shook it off, and swore pranking revenge on Gilderoy Lockhart the fraud himself. The only upside to the man's existence in Harry's opinion was when he had tried to hit on Lily Potter while James was in the castle, and he ended up walking in on the whole thing, which basically scared the existence right out of the good Defense teacher. Needless to say they were a lot of spoken, and unspoken threats by the wrath in James Potter's eyes.

Regardless of his bad few weeks he was excited to finally break this puzzle and hear what had sent Hermione into her current state. Harry and Mandy were both at her bedside when they administered the draft, but what followed was rather unexpected. At first the girl began to loosen up, and then her eyes shot open, and she stared lifelessly at the ceiling, and then she began to scream. It was a rather horrifying moment, because he couldn't honestly tell if the girl was screaming in pain or fear. When they managed to calm her down with a calming potion she merely began hyperventilating, and spoke softly, "Close your eyes. Close your eyes. Close your eyes."

She said it a dozen times before closing her eyes, opening them, and then saying it again. Harry turned to his dad who was acting auror on the scene, "What the hell is wrong with her?"

No one bothered to admonish him on his language, but James spoke to his oldest son with a sad tone, "Something has harmed her mind. Whatever happened to her, or whatever she saw, it couldn't have been good."

Skeptically Harry said, "It had to have been dark magic. There can't be to many things someone could see that could do this to them, even fewer things that you could see in a school. She sounds like she just came out of a dark closet after a month."

Mandy however was crying trying to talk to her friend, trying to get some recognition. The headmaster who remained silent up until this point said, "It is as I feared. The chamber of secrets has been reopened."

James quickly asked, "Do you mean more things like this are going to happen?"

Dumbledore shook his head after a moment, "It is hard to say at this point. It has been a month since the last the attack, and nearly four since the first attack. There was no direct message with the last attack, but that could have been circumstantial."

He took a meaningful glance at Harry, and James Potter nodded. They all realized that Harry had probably almost caught the person in the act, but missed them by mere seconds.

Mandy was given a calming draught and escorted out of the hospital wing, by Professor Flitwick, while everyone else watched a sleeping Hermione with knots in their stomach. What kind of magic caused this? Even Dumbledore acted like he had never seen something like this. Either that or it was worse, and Dumbledore had seen something like this and he didn't want to believe it was happening again. Whatever it was, it made Harry very uneasy.

Another month passed, and the Slytherin vs. Hufflepuff week was upon the school. The first week involved a BLOW OUT quidditch game where Hufflepuff put up 590 points breaking a school record. That day Harry had put up 18 goals, also a school record, while Heidi put up 15, and Malcolm put up 11 goals, with Cedric catching the snitch. Slytherin was utterly demolished thanks to the beaters injuring most of their team on accident. At one point it was four on seven. Marcus Flint had been taken out of the game, one of the beaters, and Draco Malfoy. So collectively they had lost a seeker, a beater, and their star chaser, which literally killed them. Cedric easily caught the snitch about an hour and a half into the game, for the sole reason of it hadn't made an appearance. Hufflepuff wasn't really trying to be a bad sport it was just unlucky that the team was unwilling to relent, and that Cedric couldn't find the damn snitch. Regardless it was a record breaking day and made the Hufflepuff 2-0 for the year, and 5-0 since Harry started.

This time around it was also Harry's teams turn to start the matches, with the odd numbered seeds going first. Harry took joy in watching Hannah crush Draco Malfoy into the next century, while the duel between her and Daphne Greengrass was rather entertaining, it proved to be a long one where Hannah was barely able to disarm the #9 seed girl. Harry thought that Hannah was going to go easy in the next fight, but proved the Abbot dueling skills were closer than most originally thought between her and her brother. She fought for six minutes straight, with mostly dodging, before she got blown out of the ring by Hestia Carrow. It was a great fight, and the kinder of the two Carrow twins was panting for breath when Leanne stepped into the ring. The fight was one of the fastest Harry had ever seen because the Leanne barraged Hestia to submission, and in seconds the new Hufflepuff dueling member picked up her first victory.

Sadly the other Carrow sister didn't go down as easily, but Leanne still managed to pull it out. When Marcus Flint came out though she was in for a nasty surprise. She was not used to such a ferocious fighting style, and the girl went down quick.

Harry felt bad for Anthony Rickett, because he had yet to win a match this year, and the oldest Potter doubted he would pull this one out. He was proven correct after a rather intense duel took place, but Anthony could still not manage to pull off a victory.

Malcolm took the stage from there, and Anthony had done his job well when, so when the two exchanged spells it was a lot of power being flung around, and Malcolm managed to topple the boy after a pretty short exchange of heavy spells. When the #1 seed Terrence Higgs took the stage though the crowd went quiet. There had been some nasty rumors about his family going around at the Ministry, and some were saying that Terrence had killed his dad, but no reason was ever reasonably stated. Harry didn't know what to think about these rumors, mostly because the few times the two had associated he was far kinder than any other Slytherin had been to him. Adopting the wait and see policy Malcolm and Terrence began their duel, and most of the spells the Slytherin Captain was using Harry could not identify at all, which did not bode well. Thankfully Malcolm had been working with Harry on shield variety, and was holding him pretty well, however that meant he had no time to be offensive to attempt to wear his opponent out. He managed to keep it up for nearly two minutes before he collapsed to the ground on one knee, and his shield broke causing him to take a violent curse to the chest which made him break into a coughing fit before a stunner hit him, and a blue spell hit him. Darrel was on the platform reviving his teammate so fast, most people didn't even see him move. Terrence was also over at his side, but Harry had his wand pointing at him just in case. Dumbledore moved to interfere before things escalated, but Terrence held his hands up in a surrender like gesture, "I am just making sure my counter spell worked. The blue one that hit him in the end was the counter spell to the purple curse."

Harry nodded at the boy, and noticed that Malcolm was no longer coughing, but being patted on the back by Darrel. Cedric jumped onto the stage to help him off, and the crowd clapped for good sport.

Harry was called up next, and Terrence grinned at him while taking the other side. When Dumbledore called for bows, Terrence gave the oldest Potter a surprisingly deep bow, which Harry didn't quite return, but bowed formally none the less. When the two backed up, Terrence didn't take a dueling position and when the countdown was over neither moved. The Slytherin Captain kept his wand a little to close to his chest, and didn't really move into a defensive or offensive orthodox position.

Harry wondered if this was some kind of tactic, and fired a stunner to test the waters. To the surprise of the whole crowd the spell went right past him. IT seemed like it was right on point, but it ended up veering off at the last moment. Eyes widening Harry realized that his spell had just been deflected by a ward. Growling Harry summoned up his magic and bellowed out a powerful curse, "Bombarda Maxima!"

This caused Terrence's eyes to widen, and he too a step back throwing up a shield, but it was to late. The spell was enveloped by a defensive glow in front of him for about five seconds, but Harry kept pushing magic into the spell and over powered the wards, and when the wards went down it slammed into the the seventh year Slytherin's shield, and knocked him backwards. This allowed Harry to rain stunners down upon the boy, and eventually banish him three time before he managed to get him off the platform effectively ending the duel.

The crowd, at least the ones that weren't Hufflepuff, was shocked into silence. Before their very eyes, they just saw a second year over power a sixth year ward scheme, with one spell, and manage to knock through a shield with the same spell. Though Harry didn't show it, he had put a lot of his marbles into that working. He was exhausted and he only basically used one over powered spell, and maybe ten stunners. He could probably cast stunners for hours if that was all he was casting, so ten to him was just a needle in a haystack of his power at this point, but what he had done impressed, and concerned people with his power. The team had a brief meeting with their captain, and he half heartedly expressed his disappointment with not being able to fight, but also congratulated everyone on their victory. He also told everyone that they would be being reseeded soon, in order to get some people in the right spots that would benefit the team the most.

His dad was one of the first to greet him at the end of the match, and expressed his pride in his power levels which weren't very often shown. He was also questioned on how his transformation was coming, and Harry promised him that things were going well, and that he couldn't wait to get his first transformation down completely.

He was also given the opportunity to spend the day with his brother and sister after his match which made things a bit better. The relationship between Jack and Harry was also much better now that Jack was allowed to train with Harry once a week, and training with Neville and the other Gryffindor's every other day. It was clear that Jack wanted more training with his brother, but Harry wasn't so excited to let him do any more just yet. It was clear Jack enjoyed the training with his brother, and the difficulty that it was, so he wanted more, just like any Potter before him would. It scared Harry that his brother might get dragged into his fight on default, and he tried to keep him at an arms length when it came to these things, but his godfather Sirius in a moment of wisdom told him that he couldn't protect Jack forever, and that he was going to be his own man one day, and Harry would have to respect that. Needless to say Harry wasn't quite there yet.

The following week was the first week of April, and Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw matches were upon the school. The quidditch match was great. Jack managed to put up a lot of points, and made his whole team look pretty good, and Neville made a snitch grab right from under Cho Chang which gave Gryffindor a healthy 2-0 record going against Hufflepuff in the final match which would be in Mid-May.

The dueling matches went by better than they did last time, and Jack pulled off a good two victories, almost three, but was put down by a furious Cho Chang. He didn't go down easy, and made her an easy opponent in the next fight, but he did eventually go down. The real surprise had been Neville who was the #5 seed who ended up closing house against, Grant, and Hillard, while almost taking down Rodger Davies. Between Oliver and Percy they managed to take him out, but even then it was pretty close. Despite what Harry thought of the coward it was no doubt that he was a talented duelist. This made Gryffindor 3-1 in dueling having lost to Slytherin once, but it was of no matter, as most knew they were going to have to beat Hufflepuff twice for the gauntlet, and that was just impossible to most peoples statistical minds. They would also have to beat Hufflepuff by a whopping 430 points to win the cup, which was equally unlikely.

In the third week of April not much had changed. Hermione was still in St. Mungos with unknown mental conditions, and Lockhart decided to hold a dueling club demonstration where people were actually required to attend. The demonstration was between him and Professor Potter who did not look thrilled to be at the center of attention.

Lockhart boasted, "The headmaster granted me permission to hold this little dueling club in order to train you all up, in case you are ever in need to protect yourselves, like I have, for more information read my collective works."

With that the arrogant berk through his coat into the crowd, and some giggling girls caught it causing Harry to roll his eyes while Susan sighed. Harry gave the girl an odd look and she blushed, "He may be an idiot, but he is still a good looking idiot."

Shaking his head in order to ignore the statement by the pretty red head, he tried to pay attention to the idiot ramble, "Don't worry, you'll still have your beautiful Runes teacher when I am through with her. Never fear."

Harry rolled his eyes, while Lily seemed to take a personal insult to what he had said. When the countdown began she stood their waiting for the man to curse out of pure etiquette, and when he threw an ascension charm at her she batted it away and returned it with a disarming charm that knocked the man off his feet.

When he stood up he laughed, "An excellent suggestion Professor Potter, though I must say if I had wanted to block what you were doing it would have been pretty obvious."

In a sickly sweet voice she countered, "Perhaps we should teach the students how to block unfriendly spells. We wouldn't want another case of what just happened."

Lockhart seemed to ponder this with a link of fear for a moment before retorting, "An excellent idea Professor Potter, how about we get a demonstration pair, Malfoy Potter."

Harry grinned, knowing what would follow. The two boys approached the pitch from opposite sides, and Lily seemed like she wanted to protest the duel, but instead moved aside and patted Harry on the shoulder as she walked past him. When the two took positions on the platform they went face to face, while Draco muttered, "Scared Potter?"

Cheekily Harry responded, "You wish!"

When the duel was being countdown Malfoy proved to be a rat and threw a spell before one was counted, but Harry merely through up a slow shield charm to exaggerate the movement, in hope of giving a good demonstration of the charm. Even saying it verbally. Harry then returned the spell and it seemed Draco had to yell the spell to make something pop up, but it did manage to absorb his stunning spell. This went back and fourth three times before Draco got knocked off his feet, and jumped back up, "Serpentsortia!"

The crowd gasped as a long six foot King Kobra came out of the boys wand and made its way towards Harry. The crowd seemed frozen, and some pour kid in the crowd even made a strange noise, which caused the snake to stop, rear up and nearly strike the boy, but without thinking Harry hissed, "STOP!"

The snake instantly look backed up at Harry, and the boy spoke, "Be gone!"

Then he blasted it as quick as possible, causing the snake to erupt into a ball of fire. A pin could've dropped in the great hall, and the world would have heard it. Without hesitating any longer, Harry stunned Draco, and walked off the platform, anxious to get away from all the stares.

Hannah had caught up with him pretty quick grabbing his arm, "Are you mad? Announcing your a parselmouth in front of all those people after what has been happening?"

Harry stopped and gave the girl a cold look, "I didn't mean to it just slipped out. I thought the snake was going to attack that kid."

Hannah shook her head, "Harry that was Justin, from our house, from our year, the boy you share a dorm with. It sounded like you were telling the snake to attack him. The other Puffs I am sure are going to defend you, but this is going to be where it will bite us for not telling the others that you had this ability."

Harry relaxed a bit at the word 'us', it was said so casually as if she had never expected it to be any different. Harry sighed in stress, "I was afraid. It looked like it was going to attack whoever made that noise."

"Do you know what this means?" Hannah asked.

"Everyone is now going to think I am the heir of Slytherin. It said that only Slytherin's descendants can speak the snake tongue. Merlin knows its why the symbol of Slytherin house is a snake. They are going to think we are related now." Harry said with stress lacing his voice.

"Hopefully Susan will be able to convince some people other wise, she can be pretty persuasive. At least she will be able to convince our house, who cares about the others. Gryffindor will stand with Jack and Neville who already knew, so hopefully the only damage control we will need is our friends in Ravenclaw because they still aren't happy with what happened to Hermione."

Harry hissed, "And they think I was? She was my friend, and most of them new it. I saved her life last year for Merlin sakes."

Hannah got defensive immediately, "I didn't say it was right Harry, I just said that we needed to be ready for it."

Feeling bad for snapping at what felt like his only friend in the moment he apologized, "I'm sorry. I just reacted, and I am still just reacting."

The girl grinned taking his hand gently, "I once told you that your fierce loyalty was an endearing trait Harry, that hasn't changed. Now come on, we need to go do some damage control among our other friends.

Harry nodded giving the girl a weak smile, but never letting go of her hand as they walked to face the house.

**(A/N) This is kind of just a filler chapter, and I think the next one might be too :p, however once we get to 28 and 29 things are going to get interesting, so stay tuned! Update on Wednesday or Thursday!**


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

Over the next few days things would get rather hostile. Not many people bought into Harry's story that he was trying to help his housemate. Some people refused to believe that Parslemouths could be light wizards, and that Harry wasn't the rising leader of the light, but a rising Dark Lord. Harry was surprised and hurt that some of his own house stood against him, and Ron Weasley of Gryffindor had all, but hexed him until Jack cursed the boy. Needless to say things weren't going well, and they were about to get worse.

Darrel, Cedric, and Harry had a pretty low toned argument in a broken down classroom late one evening, and things weren't making head way, "I'm telling you I didn't think it was important before this year. Then the attacks started happening, and I didn't even realize the ramifications of what it would mean if the gift got out. As you can see it didn't go well."

Cedric put a hand on his head, while Darrel just crossed his arms, "Hannah and Susan both knew, that is what I am trying to get at here. Why find the need to tell them, and not us? I thought we were all in this together Harry. You told us all the prophesy, and we are risking a lot to train with you and help you become what the light needs, but your keeping us in the dark!"

"I DIDN'T TELL THEM ANYTHING! We were at the amusement park and their was a snake exhibit, and they could since my presence or something. I instinctively hissed back, and the girls just about freaked out on me. Do you think this is a curse I go spreading around, and using for shits and giggles. This is serious. I am literally training to defeat the dark lord, and half the school is hailing me as the next one." Harry exclaimed breathing heavily.

Cedric didn't move his hand, but said calmly, "Yelling isn't going to solve anything for any of us. What we need to do is figure somethings out, and set down some ground rules. I was willing to lie for you to the other houses, but when the Puffs came asking, I wasn't going to lie to my own housemates, not when so many of them look to us for leadership."

Harry shot back, "I didn't ask you to lie for anybody."

"Yes, but were trying to help you Harry. We just don't know how to, this all looks really bad." Darrel countered.

Harry sat down at an empty desk roughly and put his hand in his heads, "I know how it looks. The heir of Slytherin will no undoubtedly also be a parselmouth, and me being now the only one alive in Wizarding Britain, I am the only option. I couldn't have petrified Mrs. Norris though, I was sitting in the great hall with everyone else."

The boys went quiet before Cedric sighed finally looking up at the boy, "They are saying that your dad started the attacks, and then taught you how to do it, and control Slytherin's monster."

Harry rolled his eyes, "Idiots, my dad is the head auror, and one of the leaders of the last war. There is literally only one person in the entire Department of Law Enforcement ahead of him, and that is Amelia Bones, yet they think he started these attacks? Literally we are dealing with idiots!"

Darrel quietly said, "There a lot of coincidences Harry. Your also the Godson of the Black family, and they aren't exactly known for their affiliation in the light. The fact that your dad is best friends with the Black Lord doesn't help."

Harry looked sharply at the boy, "It sounds a lot like your agreeing with these people Abbot."

Neither boy said anything, but then Cedric spoke gently, "Harry if there is something you need to tell us, or if you need help with something you know you can ask us right? Even if its something bad, and you don't know what to do, we can still help. Were your friends Harry."

Tears pricked in the back of Harry's eyes as he stared back and fourth between two of his friends, "You two don't believe me? You think I opened the chamber of secrets?"

Darrel quickly came to their own defense, "Not on purpose of course, but you have been different this year Harry. You are more reclusive, and things just aren't the same. The girls have noticed it, we've noticed it, Heidi has noticed it, were all worried about you Harry. We also know you spent a lot of time studying Snape's notes, which were likely over dark magic. If you stumbled across something and it backfired we can help you."

Harry shook his head as a single tear of betrayal slipped, "Your sister believes me Darrel. She isn't afraid of me. She didn't drag me into a corner abandoned classroom to ask me the truth. She's my friend and she just believed me. I thought you guys were too. Consider this my resignation, you have plenty of time to find my replacement. I quit. The dueling team and the quidditch team."

With that Harry turned to walk out with both boys getting up to protest, but neither could catch the boy as he broke out into a run. He ran across the grounds so fast, that no one had a hope of catching him. When he finally stopped he was heaving for breath. He wasn't sure where he was, and he was angry, sad, and scared.

He looked around for something recognizable, and realized just where he was. Professor Snape's old office. He looked around and opened the door gently to walk in. No one had occupied this office this year, as Slughorn had been given an upgrade to come back and teach from retirement. It was practically empty, but somehow Harry felt like he could still sense his old friend, his old mentor. Someone he knew that Professor Snape would have believed him, and would've thought it foolish that a Potter could've been the heir to Slytherin. Harry whispered quietly, "I wish you were still here Severus. I am lost, and I don't know where to go..." Silence for a few minutes, then Harry kept talking, "My own friends don't believe me. I know this is where you would say that connections and friends are a weakness, and that the more you care for the more you have to lose, but I thought you were wrong. I thought I could trust these people."

The boy then began to cry. For no matter how mature his actions may have been, he was still twelve years old, and his friends had turned on him. He felt like he had no where to go, though he knew he could go stay with his mom, and even maybe go home early. He could easily test out of his exams, and just come back next year when all this passed. But he didn't want to leave his friends. He didn't want to leave the girls. Especially not with whatever has been happening going on.

Harry stood up looking around the office, "I am going to figure this out professor, then I am going to come back, and I am going to tell you how all your teachings got me through this. Goodnight Severus."

Harry left the room with great haste, and made his way up towards the teachers quarters, but when he made it the second floor he saw water on the floor. He figured someone must have flooded the bathrooms, but then he saw something a little stranger. Hundreds of little spiders were fleeing to get out of the school through a broken piece of window. It was mid-april and it was still cold outside, most of them would die in this weather, and he wondered what was causing them to run like that. He went closer to investigate, and realized to late that he had walked into what felt like a trap.

When he came to a corner he saw something he would never be able to unsee. He saw Justin Finch Fletchley petrified on the ground. Harry ran over to the boy grabbing his hand lightly, "Oh Justin please don't be dead. Please don't be dead."

Harry tried a few spells to awaken the boy, but nothing happened. Harry wiped at his eyes and flicked his wand out, "Expecto Patronum."

The humanoid like thing came weakly out of his wand, and he said, "Professor Dumbledore, there has been an attack on the second floor. Come quickly."

The patronus shot off at the end of his message, and within sixty seconds Dumbledore had arrived in an instant. When he saw the young man petrified on the ground he took a deep breath, "I find it hard to find you coincidentally at all three attacks Mr. Potter."

Harry looked shocked at the professor, "Sir? You can't believe I did this?"

Dumbledore looked quietly at the boy before shaking his head, "No, I know you did not do this my boy. The skill it takes to petrify someone is well beyond the NEWT level. You are quite gifted my boy, but this would require serious dark magic, that Fawkes would have detected if you had a hand in. Unfortunately you will not be able to convince the rest of the student body this."

"Your going to tell them I found Justin?"

Dumbledore shook his head, "No of course not. But your house will know you were unaccounted for during the attack. It seems the house of loyalty has been struggling this week. I fear an attack on their own will only make them out to be cornered animals, prepared to lash out the first enemy they might see."

Harry nodded his head sadly, "I don't understand professor. Why is this happened to my friends? It can't be a coincidence. Hermione, then Justin, both second years, both my friends that most people were aware of."

"I will look into what Mr. Finch-Fletchley was doing out at this time of night, and go from there. I am afraid there isn't much we can do Mr. Potter. If too many more attacks happen the school will have to be closed. I will also remind you that it can't be a coincidence that they are both muggleborns." Dumbledore said sadly.

Casting a levitation charm on the young man Dumbledore said, "You must get back to your mothers quarters for the night, it is not safe to linger the halls of Hogwarts right now."

The old headmaster looked much older than he usually did as he began to wonder away, but Harry stopped him before he got to far, "What causes something like this headmaster? You must have an idea?"

The old man stopped, but didn't look back, "You are the only one that was hearing the voices on the night of the original attack Harry. You are also the only one with a certain skill in this school. I think your answer should be fairly obvious and equally horrifying."

Harry was shocked at the blunt nature of the Headmasters response. However now it was obvious. The voice he was hearing, that only he could hear. It was so obvious that it hurt. Slytherin's monster was some kind of snake.

The next few weeks were hell for the oldest Potter. Even his little brother Jack was getting crap from the other students about how his family was associating with a dark wizard. Neville and Jack usually took turn hexing these people into their place, but they couldn't hex the whole student body.

Harry had moved his training to earlier, and to a different part of the castle. He was now training in the forbidden forest. He knew it wasn't his smartest decision, but he couldn't face his friends right now, and all he seemed to have right now is anger. Cedric and Darrel both had attempted to approach the boy, but he had given them both the cold shoulder, and not even looked at them. He was beyond furious with the whole lot of them. The only person he really spoke to was Hannah, and sometimes Susan who would make sure he was eating, and taking care of himself. Harry hadn't asked why the girl distanced herself, but figured it was best he just didn't know, because he honestly didn't want to. Ernie at least was civil with him. Asked him how he was doing every few days, and seemed genuinely concerned. That made him feel a little better, but he wasn't in the mood for pleasant conversation these days.

The last matches of the season were coming up, and Harry was dreading them as he was getting even dirty looks from some of the older house members, but not to surprisingly he wasn't antagonized by either of the teams actual members. Not that he cared.

These days he had been sleeping in his moms quarters. The stern mother had tried to convince the boy to go back to his common room, but after one night where he went and slept in the dungeons behind wards, and Dumbledore had found him, she decided not to say anything else about the boys sleeping arrangements.

It was the day before the quidditch match, and Harry was walking to his class of the day before the weekend would arrive. He was in a particularly bad mood, after having transfiguration with Draco earlier that morning, mostly because all he did was taunt the boy, almost as if he liked being cursed.

Harry was walking alone, and the hallways were rather empty this time a day, but suddenly he heard the familiar sounds of snapping, and quiet bangs in the distance. He picked up his pace a little bit recognizing the sound of spell fire, and when he turned the corner he saw something that lit a fire in his stomach. He saw Hannah wandless, bound to the floor, and looking a little black and blue. Her attackers were just as familiar though, sixth year Robert Hillard, and instead of Rodger Davies, was Hugh Grant. Harry stared at the scene for a moment, and when Hillard threw another curse something in him snapped at the site of a bone breaker.

Harry felt something raging in his heart, and he looked at the boys and let out a feral roar, but it wasn't his voice that came out. It was something much deeper, and much more powerful. All three people turned in fear to see Harry running towards them. Robert tried to throw a curse at him, and Grant did as well, but he dodged both, and when they kept firing, he was actually hit with one, but that only enraged him further. When he got within range he leaped to hit the boy, but suddenly he felt like he jumped a lot higher and faster than before. When he landed he looked to his arms to see they were much bigger and harrier than usual. When he felt something hit him on the back he roared again and jumped backwards swinging hard at Robert Hillard causing him to fly backwards into the wall. He felt another spell zooming towards him, but he rolled under it and ended up right next to the man, slamming his hands down on his shoulders, then picking him up and throwing him against the wall. He then protectively stood in front of Hannah as the two boys were groaning. After they stayed down for a moment the large beast walked over to one of them and dragged him to the other. Both boys were wandless and terrified looking at the large creature that was hovering above them. Harry felt a soaring feeling of triumph and the defeat of his enemies and roared straight in their faces causing the two to probably shit themselves.

The angry creature then smashed their heads together with little power, sending both into an unconscious state.

Harry turned gently to face his friend, wanting to ask if she was okay. He had expected her to look at him in fear, but she didn't. Instead she just asked in a calm voice, "Harry?"

Harry nodded his head slightly, as he could tell he was much taller than he usually was as he slowly approached the girl walking on his knuckles. When he stood before her, with just a little bit of a distance between the two she said, "Your beautiful."

The girl didn't even blush to her credit, but Harry figured if he was in his human form he would've blushed for sure. She held out her hand to him, and it seemed so small. He followed her motion and placed his gorilla sized hand into hers. She laughed as the hand enveloped hers easily. She was about to say something when a familiar voice rang through the hall, "What in Merlin's name-"

Harry quickly turned around and got in a protective position of the young girl, while only recognizing the unfriendly tone in his animalistic nature. However when he saw his mother he stood to his full height, and beat his chest twice. The women's eyes widened forgetting that there were two unconscious boys before her, "My god, Harry is that you?"

Harry grunted in response, not entirely sure how to switch back. Hannah stepped to his defense, "He saved me Professor Potter. Those two idiots were attacking me, and Harry came my rescue. I didn't know he had finished his animagus transformation?

The women looked around carefully before saying, "As far as I know this is his first time!"

Harry grunted in response and the women grinned, "Congratulations are in order then son. You just became the youngest animagus ever. I would change you back, but I really want your father and the others to see this. I am going to cast a notice me not charm on you, then I want both of you follow me to my office."

Hannah asked, "Professor Potter, aren't you going to do something about those two?"

She looked at them carefully then shrugged, "Fifty points from Ravenclaw for sleeping in the hall way."

Before she could walk away he grunted and gestured towards Hannah's arm which she was holding delicately. Lily seemed to see the problem and asked Hannah where it hurt, while the girl said, "One bone breaker to the arm, and a bunch of bruising charms. I'll live."

The women frowned clearly thinking more points should be taken from the cowards in Ravenclaw, but settled for fixing the girls arm with a quick enchantment, and asked them to follow her down the hallway.

The two nodded, and Harry felt the spell wash over him. He quietly followed the girls up the hallway, while he was trying to get used to the feeling of his new body. He couldn't really feel his fur, but he could feel his weight as he walked on his knuckles. He felt more powerful than he ever had before, stronger, more in tune with the world.

When they reached the professors office, she quickly went over to the her bed grabbing a two way mirror that Harry recognized and called all of the Mauraders to come to her as soon as possible, and that it was a good kind of emergency.

The women smiled when she ended the call, "The last time I left a message like that Harry you had just had your first bit of accidental magic. The other times everyone was all home, but you had done it while it was just you and I at home one day. You were so little, only a year old."

Hannah gasped, "That's incredible, most kids don't have their first bout until they are five or six."

Lily smiled at the girl, "As you may have figured out by now, Harry is a special case."

The boy would've blushed again had he been able to, but he still stood proudly at his accomplishment.

Finally the fireplace in the corner lit up, and James Potter was the first to cross through wand drawn, "Lils, what is-"

He then made eye contact with his son, as if it were for the first time. The man was speechless, and the fire lit up again spilling out Remus, "Lily I got your message, has there been another attack?"

James merely put a hand on his old friends shoulder, and turned him to face his nephew. Remus stared slack jawed, and the last guest came through the fire place, "Please tell me Harry or Jack pulled off the golden prank and that is why we got the happy emerge-...Holy shit."

Lily admonished with a smile, "Padfoot!"

The three marauders stared at their son/nephew for a moment, before Harry reared up and slammed his hands into his chest roaring out with a mighty power. The marauders grinned, while James came up to embrace his son powerfully, "You did it! You pulled off the animagus transformation at twelve years old, kid you are a genius!"

Sirius laughed heartily, and pulled a bottle of whiskey out of his bag that must have had special enchantments on it, "Its time to celebrate! Our boy has done it!"

Remus grinned, "Putting us old boys to shame. We thought we were good accomplishing it at fifteen!"

James asked happily, "How did it happen?"

Hannah cleared her throat, "Maybe we should reverse Harry's transformation so he can enjoy the celebrations."

Lily laughed, "Of course dear!"

With a flick of her wand, Harry was twisted a bit, and suddenly back in his previous clothes, and everything. James shot out, "Hey! When you reversed our spells you said the clothes were always lost in the transformation?"

Lily gave the boy a cheeky grin, "Pay back for all the times you jinxed my homework!"

The marauders all stared at the women in shock, while Hannah giggled, and Harry grinned. They immediately all began arguing with good nature, when Harry turned to Hannah, "Are you okay?"

The pretty blonde retorted quietly, "Thanks to you."

Harry grabbed the girls hand gently, and gave it a squeeze, while the girl showed a bit of Gryffindor courage while in the lions den, and kissed him on the cheek, "For saving me. For always saving me."

The boy did blush this time, and the marauders took shots at Harry while, Lily and James just watched the scene with a smile. With no further delay Harry and Hannah told the story of the transformation. It started with how she had been separated from Susan because she was going to the ladies room, and that she was going to meet her in the charms class, while on her way to class she ran into the two boys who were taunting her about Harry. It came down to a duel where she almost managed to take down Grant, but Hillard was simply to crafty and powerful. When she went down he bound her, and started taunting her and cursing her. That was about when Harry showed up, and went rage monster on them. The marauders got a real kick of what Harry had done as scare tactics, and thought the boys got everything they deserved.

Finally Remus asked a good question, "How are you feeling Harry?"

Harry grinned, "Like I've never been better a day in my life. My magic feels so in tuned with the world, and the castle right now. I've been so angry the past few weeks over everything that has happened, but right now I feel like I could take on the world. When I was in my animagus transfiguration, I felt so powerful, so alive. I can't wait to get the transformation down."

Sirius laughed, "I think we have the Marauder name for you?"

The others looked questioningly at him, while Sirius grinned, "Kong. He likes to save his blonde damsels in distress, and he is a hulking creature."

The marauders and Lily laughed and smiled at the name, while Lily said, "Kong comes from the Chinese word Glorious. Fitting for the youngest animagus ever."

The others raised their glasses, but Hannah and Harry had butter beers, and toasted to the animagus transformation, and Harry hadn't felt this good in months, and hoped this was going to the be the turning point in his year, just in time for his sisters birthday.

**(A/N) Okay ladies and gentlemen I am BACK! Good morning, good morning, hold the applause! I am back with the animagus transformation, and things covered! You will be back to receiving updates weekly on Sunday afternoon/morning/evening! I have the next few chapters written out, and I hope now that school is starting back I will have a more consistent schedule and will be able to bring you guys more updates! Also Tuesday my grammatical, story line updates for the whole story will be posted. So plot holes, and many grammar mistakes will be fixed, not all, but many! Thanks for your patience, and I hope I can recall some support to this story! Cheers!**


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

The night of Harry's first transformation Lily Potter stood up to address the student body at dinner, "Good evening students. With the permission of the headmaster I would like to share with you a new policy of Hogwarts, but first I would like to share a quote. The opposite of courage is not cowardice, it is conformity. Even a dead fish can flow along a stream."

Some of the crowd stared up at the Runes professor with confusion, while Harry gave a shrug of his shoulders, while the women continued, "Today, I saw two young men become cowards. They attacked a girl, having out numbered her, and out experienced her by seven years of magical training. I was disgusted, and I wished I had arrived on the scene sooner. But on the other hand I am glad I did not. Because I watched a young man turn down the face of fear. A hero is not a coward in the time of fear and strife, he is only a coward when the fight is over, and he has to live with what he has done. I tell you all this to remember the next time you face fear, take a hold of it, and control it, because when its over, you can be scared, because either you've won, or you've died."

The crowd was dead silence, and the teaching staff looked at their colleague in a bit awe and some a bit of admiration, "With the permission or the Headmaster I have been placed in charge of the punishment of all bullying within the school walls. Having been a muggleborn at this school, I can tell you first hand that its not good. So I offer my office to anyone in this castle who is being bullied regardless of house or blood. I can't promise protection, but I can promise consequences to anyone who finds themselves in the shoes of a coward."

Lily Potter walked off the stage, and Dumbledore stood up, "Fifty Points to Ms. Hannah Abbot for astounding student loyalty. Fifty points for Mr. Potter for standing in the face of fear, and being a hero. For that is what define us as astounding young men and women."

Dumbledore clapped a little, and some of the others in the houses did as well. Most of the Hufflepuff table just stared at Harry, and Hannah in awe, while some a little envy for being complimented by the headmaster in such a manner.

Harry however merely patted Hannah on the hand, and with a smile got up to leave the hall. He was halfway to the teachers quarters when he heard a voice come from behind him, "We know you didn't do it Harry."

Harry stopped at the familiar voice and said calmly, "What'd it take for you to realize it Abbot? Your family owing me three life debts?"

He didn't need to look to see that Abbot had recoiled, "Hannah told me what happened. She basically screamed at me about it, and slapped me pretty good. I'm sorry Harry. I shouldn't have doubted you. I was scared, and people were looking at me to do something, because thanks to you I have become a leader in this school. You were reclusive all year, and...I'm sorry, I shouldn't have suspected you for even a moment."

Harry shook his head, looking back at the boy, "Not forgiven."

Another voice came from behind, "Wait Harry, I have to apologize as well."

Cedric Diggory came into the empty corridor, but Harry was having none of it, "I don't want your apologies. I thought I could trust you guys, and you betrayed me."

Cedric sighed, "It wasn't that simple Harry. We knew you were delving into Dark Magic, we knew you would do anything to win the upcoming conflict. We thought you had just become lost in your quest to win a war before it even began."

Harry turned around now facing the boys, with tears in his eyes, "You should've TRUSTED me. We are in the house of the loyal and the hard working. You think I would've been sorted here if I had been attacking my own friends?"

Both boys flinched at the anger in his voice, "I know how its looked. I have seen all sides of the story, but you two were both to busy only looking at your own sides of it. But instead of doing that you took me to an abandoned classroom to confront me about it."

Darrel said sadly looking down at his feet, "Were not perfect Harry. We've apologized, what else do you want?"

Harry growled, "I want my life back. I want my friends back."

Cedric exclaimed, "Were still your friends Harry. We never stopped being your friends."

Harry felt his heart pulling at him, "I trusted you."

The two boys looked pained, and Darrel said, "Then give us another chance. Let us help you figure it out. Let us train with you again. We still can do this together."

Cedric nodded, and Harry looked between the two boys, "Your going to help me solve this? Your going to help me find out what has happened to my friends?"

Cedric shook his head, "Our friends Harry. We want to help you find out what happened to our friends."

Taking a sigh and giving a look of mistrust to the boys he looked up too he asked, "Okay where do we start?"

The month of May was now upon the student body, and the more intelligent among the student population knew that if there was going to be another attack it would imminent within the school closing down for the Summer. The rest of the kids were trying to prepare for exams, and in some cases graduation.

Harry, Darrel, and Cedric however were mostly doing non-stop research in the library over dark creatures. They had a few guesses, and none of them were good. One was very dark magic, so dark that Harry ruled it out because the castle would have been disturbed by it like last year. It was magic so dark the high priestess didn't even approve of the evil rituals. Which left two options, one was a gorgon, which everyone believed had been instinct for hundreds of years. Sadly wizarding history is not very valuable in England, and they didn't have many real reliable sources to confirm that, which left the obvious, the basilisk.

The basilisk was the king of serpents, and the largest to ever have been born on this side of the World. When the boys discovered the answer they weren't sure to be excited about solving the mystery, or terrified at just what had been happening in their school. The first time they glanced over the creature they wrote it off, because the glare kills, but in another text from a German wizard who encountered one said that the creature can actually control its abilities, and unless it feels threatened it will only petrify predators or prey. Another problem with the theory was that if the basilisk was roaming the castle, then more people should have seen it, and why wasn't it feasting on the children. Unfortunately the book had answers for that too. Basilisk don't usually eat human meat, they eat Acromantulas, full sized ones, and prefer the king of the colonies, and this can satisfy them for an entire year.

After putting some pieces together Harry realized that the spiders he had been seeing fleeing were returning to the nest in the forbidden forest, and that the basilisk likely was using the pipes to get in and out of the school in order to feast, but he still returns to where is master requires him, which was in the chamber of secrets. When he told his friends that, they groaned, but assured them that he could narrow it down pretty easily. The answers were rather obvious once he got on a role too, if the basilisk was having to eat a few times a month then it was having to leave the school which meant it had to be in the dungeons, or on the first two floors. The boys were a little more enthused by this theory, but also realized that while they have a lot of answers the ultimate one to fixing the problem still remained untold, where was the fabled Chamber of Secrets?

They took their findings to the headmaster, and he thanked them for their hard work, and told them he would remain diligent, and prepared to act. That night Harry really wanted to hurt the old man, but knew there had to be more to the picture than what was really going on. Despite what everyone thought about Dumbledore he was still the most powerful wizard alive, and he still had more years of experience than some entire families do combined, so he held faith, but prepared.

Harry did as much research as he could into basilisk, and ways to kill them. The German that had defeated one last time promised that the roosters cry was not really fatal, and he was almost killed attempting that transfiguration multiple times. The main thing apparently was to blind the beast, so that way when it does switch to its killer gaze, everyone can still fight. They are nearly impossible to kill single handedly, and he took his down with a team of ten pretty mediocre witches and wizards power wise.

Other than all the research he had been doing, his training had also been stepped a notch preparing himself for the Summer. For about a week he continued to not allow his friends to work out with him, but after that passed, and things seemed to have calmed down they all continued working out together. Harry was pleased to know the whole group minus him had carried on, and tried to pick up the weight he had left behind. He was however told that he had been irreplaceable this late in the year, for quidditch or dueling, so he agreed to take his spot back on his respective teams, which led him to where he was now.

The Locker room was pretty quiet, as the team collectively caught their uneven breaths of nerve. Everyone knew that basically they had the cup in the bag, but they had won five consecutive games for Hufflepuff, and they intended to carry that on to six, but the Gryffindor Quidditch team was looking better than ever, and the team was genuinely nervous.

Cedric had attempted to be vibrant in the matter, but it was on deaf ears that his pep talk went on as they all contemplated the game before them. Soon enough they were all standing at the entrance to the pitch, and the roar of the crowds did nothing to quell their nerves. When Lee Jordan called out their names they each respectively took to the sky.

At the lineup Harry tried to get in front of Katie Bell who was the best Gryffindor Chaser, but every time he moved his brother did as well. Lee Jordan seemed to notice this and commented, "It seems the Potter brothers are in a spat on who exactly is going to be defending who, which can lead to some interesting match ups for the day. Harry Potter has put up 650 points in his past two seasons, with 700 hundred likely approaching quickly. The rookie of the year award will likely once again be going to a Potter however, but it is a close race between Hufflepuff keeper Ernie McMillan, and the chaser Jack Potter who has put up 160 points this season already. With the last game on the line, and Hufflepuff almost guaranteed the cup, the real question is, who will the MVP go to, and who will get the Rookie of the year award?"

Harry was told before the match started that the MVP trophy never went to the same player two years in a row, so that meant either Oliver Wood or himself would be getting the trophy. Secretly he told Madame Hooche, that if it was a close call that he wanted Oliver to have it, since he only had two years left to win it, and Harry fully intended on taking it next year. The women shook her head, smiled, and told him, "If we gave a sportsman trophy out Potter, a badger would get it every year. Wood is one of the best Keepers to come through Hogwarts, and he knows it because I have told him, but the MVP trophy about who the best overall player is, and right now its a close one, by the end of the game we will know who the best player this year was however."

This caused Harry's head to spin with thoughts until the ball was thrown in the air to start the game. Normally Harry would be going after the ball, but this was Maclom's last game to play at Hogwarts, and Harry and Heidi promised him that this was his show, and they wanted him to score more points today than he had in any other game, which would be tough considering the last game he scored a lot of goals.

Malcolm lost the tip off, but Katie Bell had tried to pass it over to Jack who was being thoroughly guarded with a switch tactic by both Heidi and Harry, which meant he couldn't seem to catch the ball when it was thrown to him. Harry took possession of the ball from there, and with a long series of intricate passes, Wood couldn't keep with the ball until Malcolm slammed it into the goal just to the right of Oliver's outstretched fingers.

The Hufflepuff stands cheered, and not for the first time, Hufflepuff was leading the game. The celebrating was short lived though when Jack threw a bomb half way across the field into Angelina's wide open hands and scored with an ease. The score was 10-10.

Harry looked at his brother with a bit of shock, having never realized he could throw so far, and the boy merely smirked at him, and flew off to get ready for the defensive possession. When the quaffle was in bounded to Harry he gave a finger roll indicating the play he wanted, and Malcolm shot down, while Heidi shot up. This left Harry the opportunity to fly straight down the middle of the field, with Darrel and Anthony blasting bludgers at the chasers to give them a bit of time. They made it three quarters down the field before they encountered resistance, which allowed Harry to toss the ball into the air, break formation, speed ahead, catch the thrown ball, only to take a fake shot at the goal causing Oliver to jump for it, while the ball had actually fallen down into Malcolm's hands taking an easy shot at the opposite goal.

It was a play that only usually worked once or twice a game, but Sirius had taught it to him when they watched the Arrows play, which was his godfather's favorite team. Harry always loved the play, and showed it to Cedric, who helped implement the massive offensive play, which almost always lead to a goal.

The game went back and fourth a lot, and the chasers were doing such tricky moves it didn't give much for the defense. In thirty minutes the game had only accumulated 180 points, with a perfect nine goals a piece. If Cedric wasn't the best Seeker in Hogwarts Harry would be worried. Looking at the captain in that moment though, he was completely focused.

Malcolm had managed to put up six goals thus far, with Heidi putting up 1, and Harry putting up 2. The game was good, and the youngest Potter on the field was proving to be a worthy chaser, and it was almost no doubt that he would be getting rookie of the year.

The game played for an entire hour beyond that which led the score being 210-190 in Hufflepuff's favor, and both Harry and Malcolm had reached their scoring goals. Malcolm had scored 10 goals, being an all time high for himself, while Harry had put up 6 making him earn 310 points for the season, and Heidi managed 5, which gave her 200 points for the season. Hufflepuff gained its 6th consecutive win, when Cedric swooped into catch the snitch ending up the game 360-190. Poor Neville had fallen for the feint 3 times, and when Cedric had actually seen the snitch Neville thought it was another fake, and completely missed his opportunity, however still ending the season with a good 2-1 record.

Somethings get better with age, and winning was certainly one of them. Harry was on the field celebrating with his teammates, after another undefeated season, and he couldn't believe they had done it again. The three chasers from Hufflepuff were in a tight embrace, and then they hugged each other separately, for they knew this was the last time that they would ever play on the same competitive team together, and it was bitter sweet that they were able to win this last game for their friend. Malcolm had been on the team since his third year, and out of his four years he would now have two House Cups under his belt, and a lot of great memories to go with them. Malcolm and Heidi embraced the longest, as the two had been playing together for the whole four years Heidi, having joined the team in her second year. It was an emotional moment seeing the young man shed a few tears as Cedric handed him the house cup, and held it up above his head, and the house of badgers roared their approval.

Harry saw Oliver Wood look sad, but determined as he watched Dumbledore raise the stage to hand Professor Sprout the cup. Wood had at least won a cup when Charlie Weasley was there, and Harry had a pretty good feeling that he wouldn't win another at Hogwarts. Jack looked sad that he had experienced his first loss at Hogwarts, but when Harry went over to the young man and hugged him, yelling over the crowd, "That's the best I have ever seen you play little brother! I didn't know you had such a canon for an arm!"

Jack laughed and yelled back, "I gotta hide some of my skills from you guys, or else I wouldn't have scored any of those points."

Harry patted the kid on the back smiling, "The rookie of the year award is you bro, you deserved it!"

Harry looked out over the crowd that had stormed the pitch, as Dumbledore was speaking about the history of the cup, and when he looked out he saw three broom sticks, but four riders. The Maruaders each had a broom, but the honorary Marauder that was Lily Potter sat behind her husband as she held a camera in her hand. Harry had a good feeling that the proud mother had just gotten some great pictures of him and Jack hugging in front of all these people, but those thoughts were put on the back burner when Dumbledore finally announced the awards, "While Hufflepuff has finished back to back seasons with a perfect 3-0 record, the MVP and Rookie of the year award is a special one this year. This final game was what decided just whom would get these prestigious trophies, and it is my great honor to allow Madame Hooche to make the special announcement of a first in Hogwarts History!"

Madame Hooche with her wild silver hair had a huge smile on her face took cast a sonorus charm on her wand and spoke clearly, "The headmaster is correct. In the over a thousand years Hogwarts has been around, and the five hundred in which quidditch had been played, the circumstances of these awards have never been met before. For the first time the trophies will be given to respective brothers, who are only separated by a single year, and a few shades of color on their uniform. The MVP and Rookie of the year goes to the...POTTER BROTHERS!"

Harry was stunned by the turn of events. It should have been obvious, but for some reason he just didn't believe he was MVP material, and they had just announced that he in fact had been, and that his brother was rookie of the year, making it a doubly special moment.

The two stunned brothers were pushed forward to the stage by their teammates, and when they reached the podium and trophies were handed to them, two famous Potter grins came over their faces, and as one they held up their trophies to the roaring crowds, making it one of Harry's happiest memories, in which he would always share with his brother.

The hype of the quidditch tournament being complete was still alive when the dueling matches came upon them. This year Harry had the day 1 matches, which meant the last dueling match of the year would take place the following day, and the oldest Potter son would not be participating.

Darrel and Harry however were fully prepared to take the team to a solid 5-0 before Cedric would lead the team the rest of the way home to another perfect season.

Today's Gryffindor fighters were the more powerful team as well, starting at the back of the line up was, Ron Weasley, then Katie Bell, Cormac Mclaggen, Jack Potter, Neville Longbottom, and the Gryffindor captain Percy Weasley. The top three duelist were pretty stacked, but that just meant that the next day's best duelist was Oliver Wood, whom stood no chance against a seasoned and ready Cedric Diggory.

The match was starting for the day, and Harry was giving Hannah the Pep talk, "Seriously, Ron Weasley is going to be a rag doll, you have nothing to worry about. Katie and Cormac are both barely above average, your going to pull off a solid victory or two. At best Tamsin takes 1, and Anthony get a single victory, and that would force my brother to fight like two people just to get down to Malcolm or me. Your going to be fine."

The girl took a deep breath, "This is the last match of the year, I am just a little nervous. My uncle came in from out of town to watch the match, and I just want to do well."

Harry took the girls soft hand gently, "Your going to do fine! You work five times harder than anyone else on that team other than maybe Neville, and my brother, but you work longer, and it didn't come as naturally for you, which makes you the better duelist in my opinion. Just go out there and blast these idiots off the platform."

This seemed to be confident booster for the girl as she nodded, while Dumbledore called the second to last match to a start, "Ladies and Gentlemen I would like to welcome the friends and family of the two undefeated power houses in our school. Last week we witnessed a stunning quidditch match, in which Hufflepuff took the glory, and today we will witness the young people of our school attempt for a second chance at glory. Eleven seeds please take the floor."

Third Year from Hufflepuff Tamsin Applebee was now the eleventh seed duelist, while she was facing Ron Weasley. The duel that would follow would be won by Tamsin for the soul reason that she could shield, and Ron Weasley could not produce anything solid. From there she would be beaten by an arrogant Cormac Mclaggen whom was in her year, and pretty strong with his spells.

Before Anthony went on stage Harry went over to speak with the boy, "Good luck Anthony. Keep your head clear, and just remember you've improved a lot. Don't lose focus, and remember your shield charms."

Anthony was a nice enough kid, and Harry had worked with him during practice on his shields, and Harry thought him proficient enough in the skill, but his nerves often got the better of him. He was a pretty good duelist, and a fourth year. The reason Harry had worked with him though was the fact that he had yet to win a match all year. The rest of the team had pulled off at least one victory, and Anthony confided in Harry that he felt useless with all these younger duelers out performing him. Being the leader Harry was though he put in a little extra time in with him, and the fact that he hadn't turned on him during the Chamber incident, was a huge plus in Harry's book.

As Anthony was called on to the stage, Harry fist bumped the boy and patted him on the back pretty good while he nervously went to fight a cocky Cormac Mclaggen. The oldest Potter son couldn't hear what was being said, but it was clear Anthony was embarrassed or angry at the words.

The duel that would follow would be very short. Mclaggen threw fourth three wide spread blasting curses, but Anthony Rickett surprised the Gryffindor team, and the other teams who had dueled him before when a shield appeared and deflected two of the spells right back at the Third Year Gryffindor at a speed that did not even allow him to block. Cormac was up rooted and thrown backwards to the ground, where Anthony was then given time to banish the boy off the platform effectively ending the duel.

Anthony smiled, while the Hufflepuff team cheered for their teammate whom had been trying to pull off a victory all year. Harry suddenly realized that if Anthony beat Katie Bell, then Jack would be facing Hannah, whom was already nervous as it was.

When Katie and Anthony did the bowing and separated, the Hufflepuff beater was all smiles as he took across the stage. When the duel started Anthony got the first five spells off, before Katie could even respond. The difference between Katie and Cormac however was that Katie was an agile chaser, and she had great speed. Her dodging ability was impressive, and she was getting closer and closer to Anthony, and Harry wasn't sure if his friend was going to be able to pull this one out. He was quickly proven wrong when Anthony dove to the ground landing just a foot or so in front of her with a freezing spell that was followed with a stunner!

The team roared their approval, but Harry noticed Hannah paled. Anyone who would have thought about it realized that Jack Potter was a pretty serious duelist. He had Harry's speed, but not his power or his spell repertoire. Hannah was a fast duelist, but when it came to power and strategy Harry wasn't quite sure who would pull it off.

Anthony was on cloud nine though when Jack took to the mat he looked more concentrated then Harry had ever seen him, and Harry had a feeling Anthony was about to be in for a rude awakening. Peering around to see some of the reactions from his team they looked thrilled. One duelist was down from their team, and the Hufflepuff team had managed to take down three now, with Jack a first year coming up some of them thought this was in the bag. Susan and the others had seen Jack fight though, and they knew the Potter family gave the Wizarding world the best duelist, and knew better than to underestimate him because of his age. The red headed Hufflepuff second year was gently talking her friend through some strategy, while Harry watched his brother bow in respect to the headmaster, and Anthony was looking so excited that it almost looked like arrogance, as if he could take on the world.

When the countdown began, Harry blinked with each number. When the number one was said however he blinked again, and Anthony was on the floor unconscious.

The crowd was stunned to silence, and the Hufflepuff team looked like their jaws had just dropped. Harry didn't see the spell that was fired, but he didn't need to, to know that his dad had taught him the Potter specialty stunning spell. It was a spell that left no magical imprint, nor made any noise, the only way you would know the spell was cast is if you threw up a shield, and you held it under the pressure.

The crowd clapped after a moment almost unsure what else they should do after seeing such a confusing display of magic. Harry quickly went over to Hannah trying to shake her of her confusion by placing two hands firmly on her shoulders, "Listen Hannah, I won't try and sugar coat this, my brother is a good duelist, because he has been training under the Marauders for years, and he has good practice, but you have more experience in actual dueling with your own wand. The spell that Jack just took Anthony down with was a specialty Potter spell that I can't tell you about, because its a family secret, but as soon as the duel starts throw up a shield. At the count of one you need to be shielding, because he is going to try it again. Put your shield up and start moving. He will take a step forward before he throws a blaster, and a semi-step back when he throws a stunner. Keep on top of his patterns and you will take him down." The girl seemed to be just staring at the platform in shock and fear, so Harry did the only reasonable thing he could think of and that was kiss her on the forehead, "Come on Hannah you can do this. Go out there, and show these people that you have worked harder."

Hannah blinked twice then looked at him as if he had never been himself before, and then shook her head, taking a determined look, before nodding her head, and taking the platform. Harry crossed one hand across his chest, and put the other on his mouth to hide all visible emotion, while the two were bowed into the fight.

As the two marched across the platform Harry heard some cheers from both sides, and when the countdown began, Harry saw the confidence in his brother's eyes, and believed that his friend had just been put against a determined Potter, and that this duel was not going to end well.

At the count of one, much like the last duel, Jack started the duel with the specialty stunner, but Hannah had taken Harry's advise, and shielded the spell and began moving back and fourth in a rather unorthodox fashion. After a few moments watching Jack fire spells at such a rapid speed was like shooting fish in a barrel, but Hannah's dodging was incredible, and her shielding was executed with perfect timing.

One minute had passed, and Hannah had yet to even return a spell, and Harry had walked over to stand next to Darrel who had mimicked his position, but was speaking with Harry, "She's doing good. She is going to either wear him out, or sneak something in and knock him out."

Harry nodded, "Jack is looking good, but he is getting impatient, and not controlling his power. I think your sister might have him."

"I understand your neutrality in this one, but I hope my sister knocks your brother on his ass!" Darrel said half jokingly.

Harry grinned, "Between the two of us I hope she does too. He had been getting a little too confident, and not very humble, a bad beginning to arrogance, which according to my mum runs in my family."

Darrel shook his head as sparks and spells bounced around the platform and the two minute mark had passed, and Hannah had yet to return a spell. Jack was drenched in sweat, but Hannah wasn't fairing much better. If Harry had to guess though, Hannah's magical core was probably fairing better. At the three minute mark Jack stopped and shouted, "Are you going to fire a spell?"

Hannah grinned, while Harry shook his head at his brothers foolish frustration. Hannah merely grinned and stepped forward practically screaming, "REDUCTO!"

Harry was surprised at the amount of power that left her wand, as she swooned a bit. Harry watched Jack try to summon a shield, but not only was he unable to block it sufficiently which caused him to be thrown roughly backwards and hit the mat hard. Harry expected the boy to get stunned, but instead Hannah disarmed him, and stood on shaky knees. The Hufflepuff team was going crazy, because all of them had expected Hannah to go down without much of a fight.

The crowd had clapped politely even, but then Harry noticed Percy and Oliver trying to pick the boy up, and he wasn't being responsive. It was in this moment the oldest Potter realized something bad had happened. He started running towards the platform and jumped up with an unnatural vertical, probably tapping into his animalistic nature. He slid a little to get to his brother with optimum speed, and had his wand out casting diagnostic spells that his mum had taught him in case someone was hurt during their practice. Dumbledore wasn't far behind, but Harry was already doing work, "He has a minor concussion, I think he hit his head pretty hard when he went down. He is going to need Madame Pomfrey's attention immediately. He has a little bit of trauma which needs to be fixed pretty soon, but he needs a professional to look at him for further damage just in case."

Lily Potter was on the platform shortly after in a frantic, but she was quickly reassured by the other players who kept her back just in case she interfered with whatever Dumbledore and Harry were doing. Remus was shortly behind the rest of the Potter family, but he volunteered, "I will take him up to the hospital wing."

Harry was about to protest that he would go to, but Dumbledore clapped, "A splendid idea, we still have a match to complete, and while Ms. Abbot has just won, there are still two Gryffindor duelist prepared to fight. I believe Mr Potter just needs some rest."

James and Lily both wanted to go, but Remus insisted that there son would likely still have to duel, and that Jack would be fine. They all then watched the Godfather of the youngest Potter son walk away quickly with his godson in his arms. Harry watched the two walk away desperately wanting to follow, but knew he still had a duty to his team. As Harry walked back over Hannah looked like she was going to cry, "Harry, I am so sorry, I was just trying to finish the duel, I didn't mean to-"

Harry put a soft hand on the girls shoulder with a sad look on his face, "It was an accident, it could've happened to any of us. Just get out there and be careful. Neville is up next, and Jack is basically his little brother, and he is going to want vengeance. Be careful and don't take a spell to the head please!"

The girl nodded, while Harry gently patted the girl on the back and went back to his spot on the sidelines, while Darrel was steadying the girl, and ended up wanting to withdraw her, but she remained steady, and wanted to finish the best she could.

Neville was looking pretty fit these days. For a twelve year old boy he was pretty tall, and fairly well built around the shoulders, and his magical aura was pretty impressive. He had a deadly calm look on his face as well, which made the boy look intimidating.

The formalities were quickly given, and when the duel started Neville went completely offensive, and within seconds had Hannah stunned and bound.

The clapping was fairly subdued having the crowd seen the violence from the previous duel. When Malcolm came onto the floor the same thing nearly happened. The #5 seed vs the #3 seed however turned out to be a violent duel between the seventh year Malcolm and the Second year Neville Longbottom. Most people couldn't believe it when the second year defeated the veteran NEWT student, and the crowd was positively stunned, that the boy didn't even bat an eyelash at the victory.

Harry was called onto the platform next, and Malcolm was limping towards the sidelines when he was revived. Harry stepped onto the platform next making the duel now the #3 seed vs the #3 seed, but this would be a rematch from last year.

Neville grinned at his friend, showing the first sign of emotion since he took the platform, "Hey there Harry. I think you are going to be in for a rude awakening today."

Shrugging his shoulders, "If you beat me Darrel is going to close house. I want this to be a good duel mate."

The boy grinned with a sinister smile, and bowed to him when the formalities were called. Both boys bowed to Dumbledore out of respect, much like before, and when it was time to separate they both shook hands again, and went to their respective ends of the platform.

Dumbledore called down the fight, but Harry blinked at the count of each number and when one was called, unlike last year, Harry was moving, "Reducto, Aqua Eructo, Stupefy, Expulso, Bombarda, Defudio!"

It was a six chain spell Harry had been working on for weeks, and it was executed perfectly, already pushing Neville backwards, and Harry was relentless. The number of times he exchanged his blasting three chains had nearly hit fifteen when Neville tried to slide under one, and catch a full stunner to the face.

Harry quickly revived his friend saying, "Sorry man, but my brother is in the hospital wing now, and I am going to get to him as quickly as possible."

Neville grunted, but smiled, "You are looking sharp, looks like I need to duel with you a little more often, because that beating was thorough."

Harry laughed lightly, and the two hugged briefly, and separated. When he walked back Darrel whistled, "Damn Potter, I don't think I am going to get to duel today."

When Dumbledore called the Gryffindor captain forward, Harry took a look of determination once more, "No you aren't. I am going to get to Jack, and make sure he is okay."

Darrel nodded, as Harry turned his back to his friend and went to face his next opponent. Harry suddenly laughed out loud as an idea popped into his head, and turned to face his dad, and just laughed again. Most people probably thought the young man had lost it, but when Sirius and James both just erupted into laughter, the crowd had officially striked the fact that they were missing something.

When the duel was getting the count down Harry started sprinting at one, and used his shield multiple times, making Percy have to dodge the reflected curses, and at point blank range Harry leaped through the air taking a stunner to the chest, but that didn't matter as his animal side had taken control, and turned him into a 500 pound beast. Harry was now on top of the boy, and had slapped away his wand with his feet, and roared in triumph.

The crowd was stunned into silence, while the animagus Harry merely looked at Dumbledore waiting for him to call the match, but even the headmaster seemed stunned. The only people who weren't stunned were the Potter's who were cheering with a roar, and Hannah was merely laughing as Harry had now taken a seat on the Gryffindor captain. After another moment of long silence Harry stood up and turned to the headmaster beating his chest, and roaring impatiently. This seemed to snap Dumbledore out of it, and he began clapping, "And Hufflepuff wins the match!"

Harry nodded towards the headmaster and bounded towards the hospital wing, hopping a long on his knuckles with a quick speed. In just a few minutes he reached the medical wing, and upon arrival he looked around confused, and when Madame Pomfrey came to him she screamed loudly, but Harry transfigured his body back to normal, "Where is my brother Madame Pomfrey?"

The women huffed, "Mr. Potter this is not a funny prank, I haven't seen your brother all year. Now what seems to be the problem?"

Suddenly Harry's eyes widened and he ran out of the hospital wing as fast as he could down towards the great hall. When he made it to the fifth floor he heard a quiet whisper, "Master...Master."

Harry had the worse feeling build in the pit of his stomach, and he transformed back into his animagus and panicked to get down to the lower floors. Instead of going down the stairs though he launched himself off of the stair case, and caught onto a lower stair case that was moving, and then dropped down onto the second floor where the whisper was louder. He pursued the noise, until he came to an area that looked like a bomb had gone off. A part of the wall had been blown away, and Harry knew a battle had taken place here. When he turned a final corner he saw his Uncle Remus laying on the floor in a pool of blood, trying to breathe. He wanted to rush to the man, but the message in the background forbid him from doing so. He had been frozen to the very core. For on the wall, a message written in blood proclaimed, **"His Skeleton will lie in the chamber forever!"**

**(A/N)**


	29. The Chamber of Secrets

**Chapter 29**

No matter how many times Harry would look back on this memory, it would never cease to be horrifying. With the message written in blood, and his brother clearly gone, he didn't know what to do. All his training, and nothing had prepared him for this.

At some point he knew he would have to move, and do something, but at the moment he couldn't bring himself to do anything. When Remus made a coughing fit he seemed to snap out of it just enough to go over to the man, and cast a few healing charms asking, "What happened?"

Remus coughed, and wheezed, "They took Jack. Two men in death eater garb, but that wasn't all, they were controlling a basilisk. The wizards didn't do much, just took Jack."

Harry took a hold of the man's hand, "Your going to be alright Mooney, but you have to tell me where they were going. We can't lose my brother."

Remus shook his head looking at the ceiling, "Send the headmaster a patronus. Send your parents a patronus. Get them down here, and let them go rescue your brother from the chamber. My wolf senses allowed me to tell that they had gone underground somewhere in that bathroom. The only reason I am alive is because my werewolf ability is healing me faster. The basilisk Harry, there is something wrong with it...It tried to petrify me, but it couldn't so it attacked me. It got your brother, and the death eater called him off."

Harry flicked his wand out, "Expecto Patronum!"

Quickly a stronger mist than usual formed, but Harry spoke quickly, "Headmaster lock down the school. Jack has been captured. He is in the chamber, and I am going after him. Second Floor. Girls bathroom."

With that the mist took off in the direction that the headmaster was in, and he looked back at the dying werewolf, "I have to go after my brother Mooney. Your going to be okay. Keep healing, and tell my parents where I went. Hopefully they will get to me in time."

Remus gripped the boy a bit tighter on the arm, "If you go after him you will die."

Harry pulled his wand out carefully, "Then I am going to die for my brother. _Petrificus Totalus!"_

With his uncle being frozen, and his eyes widening, Harry freed himself from the man's grip and ran into the next room. A large stone sink was in front of him in the center of the room, and he could hear the whisper in parseltongue coming from below. Due to the direction of the noise, he knew this had to be the entrance to the chamber. He carefully strolled over to the stone sinks and whispered a few words in parseltongue, before he thought of the obvious, "_Open!_"

With astounding success the sink began to split apart creating a large hole that fell deep within the chamber. He then mumbled something about stairs, and with luck a set of spiral stairs formed, and he quickly descended down the path. As he marched down at the fastest paste he could his nerves were suddenly forming. He knew a suicide mission when he placed himself in the middle of it, but he recognized that first and foremost this was a rescue mission. They knew where the chamber was now, and best case scenario showed that he would lead the aurors back down here, and they could take the beast down. Worse case scenario is that the entrance closed behind him, and he was going to die down there with his brother.

It was these thoughts when he came to anther door, and opened it with the same password. Harry thought that perhaps Salazaar Slytherin was arrogant, but due to the limited number of parseltongues being in the world, and all of them being related to him, it wasn't really arrogance as it was security.

When he opened the final door it opened up to a long hallway with a large Slytherin statue and many statues with snakes on both sides of the pathway. He saw two blondes standing facing away from him, and a dark haired boy who looked to be probably a sixth or seventh year Slytherin by the way his robes looked. He cast an easy disillusionment charm on his body, and began treading carefully towards the three people, and caught bits of the conversation, "Your resurrection will be flawless my lord. I only hope that we are able to sacrifice the Potter boy, and not cost the life of my son. I have done my best to be a most faithful servant, my Lord."

The young man merely smiled charmingly at the now painfully familiar blonde man, "Relax Lucius. I have done much work with this type of magic. We will be able to lift the curse from your son, and transfer it over to the Potter boy, never fear."

With sick realization Harry figured out that the boy who was standing next to the blonde man was Draco Malfoy, and the boy was in some type of trance, while his brother was lying unconsciously on the ground.

Lucius spoke proudly, "The house of Malfoy has never had a reason to fear the first time you were in power my lord, and we have only reasons to rejoice that you will soon be back with us, and within your young power once again. A truly triumphant day my lord."

The man merely nodded, while studying a book rather intensely, "We must make haste. Someone may have followed you down into the chamber."

Had Harry not been under a disillusionment charm, he would've thought the young man that was Lord Voldemort, looked right at him. Not wanting to wait any longer though he drew his wand and fired a spread stunner that his dad had taught him, hitting all three beings with beautiful accuracy, and while two of them dropped like a sack of potatoes, the Dark Lord merely shivered and stood at his full height, "Ah, I did think I had sensed great power within the Chamber, one that was not my own. Reveal yourself Dumbledore, Potter, or whomever you may be."

Harry removed the charm speaking sharply, "Hello Tom, it seems that we meet again."

The Dark Lord took a huge whiff and smiled, "Ah, I was wrong for once. It is young power I sensed. Who are you young man, I hope you are the son of one of my death eaters if we are meeting again?"

Harry laughed with fake joy, "No I am afraid we are enemies, and the last two times we have met, I have defeated you with a lot of luck. Harry James Potter, nice to meet you!"

The smile instantly vanished from the handsome young man's face, "Ah, so you are the boy that Draco was always whining about. Quite the prodigy aren't you. Dueling and Quidditch team in your first year. The talent must not be what it used to be when I was here at Hogwarts."

Harry spat on the ground, "It seems your arrogance has bested you again Tom. Had you captured anyone, but my brother or friends I might have not stopped you. Dumbledore is on his way, and I may not be able to beat you or your ruddy pet snake, but I can at least slow you down until he arrives with help."

The Dark Lord shook his head, "I do not wish to fight. In fact I am known for my diplomatic skills, so lets avoid a fight between you and I. In fact I want to make you an offer."

Harry growled pointing his wand at the man, "Not interested!"

The man faked appall, "That's just to bad Mr. Potter, I can give some very enticing deals, but very well. I am going to go ahead and tell you that the basilisk is not in this area right now, in fact he is probably looking for a large meal or ten since I have now given her free rain. Now, you can either go and attempt to stop the beast and potentially save lives, or you can stay here, and try to save your brother. The odds say you will die in either attempt, but as a merciful lord I agree to not interfere with either. Mostly, because that power is just out my reach until I can revive Lucius and his boy and have them complete the ritual."

Realization struck Harry like a sack of bricks, "The book is a Horcrux. A Horcrux that was draining Draco, and then when you needed a new conduit because it was killing Draco, and you didn't want to lose Lucius' help, so you abducted my brother to finish the job. The only reason he is still out now is from his earlier injury. You fucking snake in the grass!"

Lord Voldemort now stood at his full height, "You are rather intelligent Mr Potter, much more intelligent then either of those idiots believe you to be, but the question remains to be, what are you going to do about it ?"

Harry looked between the Dark Lord and the two people on the ground that he had just previously stunned. He had a decision to make, and both would likely end in blood shed. He had to act quick though. With only a moments hesitation he pointed his wand at the older blonde man speaking weakly, "Sectumsempra."

A slashing like spell came out of his wand and enveloped Lucius while the Dark Lord screamed, "What are you doing?"

Harry flinched at the angry voice, but it wasn't because he was scared of the spirit form of Tom Riddle, it was because he felt like he was being punished for killing the man before him. He was twelve years old and he had killed a man. Made some boy fatherless, but he did this to save his brother, and this would only be the first time he would be forced to kill in this war, "I am going to save my brother, and my friends. Good luck rotting down here, I will be back with the others to destroy the Horcrux, and by extension you."

Harry ran to his brother, and the Dark Lord spoke, "You'll never make it. By the time you take down my ancestors beast I will have returned."

Growling Harry responded, "Then I will be back with every wand I can muster to send you back to the gates of hell, now excuse me."

Harry then pulled upon his inner beat and transformed into his animagus, and picked up his brother like a sack of potatoes and began running, with Tom Riddle screaming at his back. It took only about two minutes to make his way out of the chamber, and when he made it out, two aurors were standing there as if they were going to blast him, but then they saw Jack in his arms, and shouted, "Drop the boy!"

Harry gently put the boy down and transformed back into his regular self, "My name is Harry James Potter, where is everyone?"

One of the aurors who recognized him, was Kingsley Shacklebolt, "Harry! They thought you had been taken too! We found Remus Lupin's unconscious body, and he had lost a lot of blood. Madame Pomfrey had told the others that you had left in a hurry earlier, and now they are down in the great hall preparing to evacuate the school. We were supposed to stand guard as watches for anything that could happen."

Harry paled, "We have to close down the school. The basilisk is awake, and its leash has basically been destroyed."

The taller of the two middle aged aurors stood, "We need to warn the others as quickly as possible."

Harry shook his head thinking quickly, "My animagus is a gorilla, I can get there much faster. Take my brother to Madame Pomfrey, and use the staircase up, don't go down no matter what...Kingsley, keep my brother safe. He is just unconscious from a head injury, but he will be fine."

The taller man looked like he really didn't want to leave this responsibility on Harry, but realized he had no choice other than an unreliable patronus charm, "Okay kid. Go, quickly. We will take care of your brother."

Harry nodded barreling forward, back into his animagus position. Harry had never run so fast in his life as he tried to get to the great hall, but when he hit the ground floor, and began heading towards the corner he saw the basilisk coming from a different direction, heading right for the great hall, where the door was just barely open. He knew that if the snake got in there a lot of his friends, and people were going to die.

The snake began slithering its way across the hallway with clear intention of entering the great hall, but Harry was not going to allow that to happen. Coming to terms that the next move he did would most certainly bring his death, Harry jumped over the railings in his animagus form landing squarely between the basilisk and the great hall, roaring at the monster in anger. The basislisk reared its head to strike, and Harry took the limited time he had to transform back into his human form, drawing his wand and screamed, "DUMBLEDORE SEAL THE DOORS!"

With a flick of his wand the doors slammed shut, and the basilisk roared in anger going forward to strike, but Harry heard a loud piercing chirp come through the hall, and suddenly Fawkes the phoenix was attacking the basilisk in the face, and hopefully trying to blind the massive creature. In this time Harry started throwing his best conjictivus curse that his Godfather had taught him for the creature, and he managed to hit the right eye nearly three times, and Fawkes had taken out the other in a matter of seconds. Most of it was terrible luck, as Harry was using the remainder of his magical core to spitfire spells.

When his luck finally ran out however he was forced to transform back into his ape form, and dodge the oncoming snake which attempted to barrage the door with full force, but thankfully it hit something much larger than the doors, as the Hogwarts wards seemed to sprout right in front of the creature, not allowing it to break through the doors!

Harry was now back on the staircase, changing back to his regular form screaming at the creature, "Yeah how'd you like that wall you big son of a bitch!"

He then heard a chuckle from behind him, and he turned preparing to strike out with his wand, but he nearly cried in relief when he saw the aged headmaster in front of him, "It seems your vocabulary is rapidly expanding with your Hogwarts education Mr. Potter. However I must ask you to refrain from taunting a creature that is nearly one hundred times your weight, and 50 times your size!"

Harry smiled at the old man blinking back tears of hope in his eyes, "I have never been so happy to see you headmaster."

The basilisk reared its head back to strike the two, and Dumbledore summoned a pair of reflective glasses on his face, but before he could put it on, Harry yelled, "Fawkes and I blinded him headmaster. Now we just have to kill it!"

Dumbledore laughed heartily as he threw up a massive shield to deflect it from attacking them, "Ah Mr. Potter killing this creature will be quite the challenge. I do not believe just the two of us will be up to it, despite the spectacular job you are doing up to this point."

The shield collapsed when he said this causing both student and headmaster to have to get out of the way as quickly as possible. The tail to Slytherin's monster was huge, and it was thrashing about attempting to hit the two, but it was simply to constrained in this hallway. Dumbledore pulled out his wand and threw a powerful lightning bolt like spell at the monster causing it to hiss in pain, but unfortunately it looked more like a large child who got stung by a wasp, sure it hurt, but it was more pissed off at the fact that he had just been stung than anything. The beast thrashed its head around and attempted to attack again, while Dumbledore dodged haphazardly asking, "What of your brother Mr. Potter, I assume by your lack or rage he is safe?"

Harry screamed back at the old man, "Yes sir. But I have bad news!"

The two were forced to dodge again, and rain spells upon the beast with no luck, as Dumbledore called out, "Right now there can't be bad news my boy. We are fighting a basilisk it can't get much worse!"

Harry then shot back, "I pulled Jack out of the chamber, but we are going to have a replenished Voldemort when this is over!"

The old man frowned as if he just swallowed a bad lemon drop, "That is bad news."

When the two retreated out the doors to the Hogwarts grounds he said quietly, "It seems we are going to have to end this and round up your family if we are going to go fight the Dark Lord."

Harry spat a bit of blood on the ground from where he had been thrown against a wall just earlier before, "I am all ears on your plan headmaster."

The old man nodded with a bit of apprehension in his eyes, "I am going to keep the creature busy. I need you to summon Hogwarts defenses. The spell is _Peirtotum Locomotor._ It will summon defenses that were built for the castle to protect it from invasion. They will work doubly well against a magical creature of this caliber because they are the statues that are before us."

Harry looked in awe at all the things that he once thought were art, "No way?"

Dumbledore gave the boy a weak smile, "I know that your parents are quite the pranksters Mr Potter, but I assure you this would not be the time or place to try one."

Harry quickly nodded as the two were forced once again to dive out of the way from the creature. Dumbledore turned to the young man one last time, "I won't be able to hold this creature forever, we must do this now."

Harry nodded quickly, "Good luck headmaster."

The man nodded back to him, while Harry turned to the closest statue to him, "_Peirtotum Locomotor!"_

He focused on the animation transfiguration and charm, and on his second attempt thankfully the statues around him began to mobilize. It took a few seconds, but eventually they started dropping down from their pedestals, and began to get in formation. Harry then realized they were waiting for a command, "Attack the snake! Defend the headmaster!"

They then began marching to where the headmaster was doing apparations all over the place, and attacking the beast from different points, allowing him time and space to follow up the attacks. Harry would have to ask later, but he was sure that apparation was impossible on Hogwarts grounds.

After another minute of mobilizing the statues, Harry noticed they had began helping the headmaster in his attacks to the point where he had stopped. Dumbledore suddenly appeared by his side, "We must make haste to kill this beast. We are going to need our strength if we are to defeat Tom in the Chamber."

Harry nodded, "What's our next move. Can these stone guys kill this thing?"

Dumbledore shook his head, "Unfortunately not, but they will be able to weaken it."

Over the next few moments they watched the stone creatures get torn to shred by the increasingly angry basilisk, but the injuries it was sustaining were substantial. Dumbledore finally said, "When the last stone man is destroyed I am going to to use my strongest freezing spell to keep the beast in place. At that point you must take the sword of Gryffindor and destroy the beast."

Harry was about to ask a really stupid question like where the sword that had been missing for over a hundred years was, but then the headmaster pulled out the sorting hat, and then pulled out the sword from no where. Harry stared at the fabled blade in awe, "Headmaster, where did you find this?"

The man's eyes twinkled brightly, "That is a story for another time my boy. But I do believe you to be a descendant of Godric himself, therefore the blade fill find you worthy to wield it. You must make haste to kill the beast, as I will not be able to hold him for long. Do you understand?"

Harry watched as the final three stone men were standing, and he nodded at the headmaster. He took the sword and flourished it a bit, wondering what his mother was going to say about all this, hell what anyone was going to say about all this.

When it came down to the last stone man Dumbledore pushed him gently, "GO!"

Harry trusted the old man with his life, and at the words he sprinted forward with his best human speed, and when the last stone man was killed the basilisk attempted to roar, and when it did the headmaster hit it with this giant yellow spell, which continuously pounded into the impervious skin. There was so much power leaking from the spell, Harry knew it had to be draining.

These thoughts came a mile a minute though when he plunged the sword straight into the beast brain cavity through the roof of its mouth, causing the creature to thrash a bit, and in turn causing a basilisk fang to inject itself straight into Harry's arm. With a scream of pain Harry withdrew the sword from the beast, and he fell backwards onto the ground feeling agonizing pain enter his body. The next moment passed in a blur, but he felt a hand go in his, and he felt something wet hit his face as he heard the headmaster try to speak to him.

Harry had only read about basilisk venom briefly, but he knew it was supposed to be the most deadly substance known to man or wizard kind. He tried to speak, but ended up just feeling the blood enter his mouth, "Take care of them headmaster."

Was all Harry could say. When he heard the trill of the phoenix he thought that was his soul passing on, but when the weight of the world seemed to fade from his life, and when the song of hope was played, he felt revived. He thought for sure he had died, and his mum had grown up with the right beliefs, and that somehow he had made it to heaven. But a few moments later he opened his eyes to see the teary headmaster staring at him in amazement. Harry looked from the headmaster to the phoenix, and then to his arm which looked completely healed in absolute confusion, before weakly stating, "Shouldn't I be dead? Why am I not dead?"

The headmaster shook his head, "The power of life Mr. Potter, it had always been one of the most powerful forces in the universe, way above magic itself. It seems that Fawkes has granted you that power today, and that you may just live to see tomorrow."

Over the next few moments of laying there and listening to his mentor speak he felt most of his strength return, where he was able to painfully stand up. He looked to his left for the first time to see a dead snake laying on the ground, and he spoke quietly, "We actually defeated Slytherin's monster..."

Dumbledore nodded, "And we must make haste, if we are going to defeat Salazaars descendant. If the Dark Lord is able to summon his followers, Hogwarts may very soon be a battleground if we cannot muster the forces to stop him."

Harry attempted to stand with the help of the old man, while asking, "What's our next move?"

The headmaster started walking back towards the great hall, "First we must gather what willing volunteers that we can, and go to Tom. I believe the larger number we go in with the better chance we will have. Under normal circumstances I would send you straight to the hospital wing, or maybe even St. Mungos, but we need someone to direct us through the chamber. I had gathered information from previous headmasters that they believed the entrance to the chamber required a parselmouth is this true?"

Harry nodded weakly as he followed the old man. When they approached the big doors, Dumbledore said, "Then we will require your assistance a bit longer."

Harry spoke before he could lift the wards from the doors, "He has a Horcrux in the chamber! We must destroy that as well."

Dumbledore merely nodded, as he lifted the wards from the door, and the chaos that was ensuing from the inside hit Harry's ears, but when the pair walked in their was silence. Harry knew he must have looked like hell, but he didn't realize just how bad he was, when Lily Potter erupted into tears just looking at the boy, while Padfoot looked like he was going to be sick. James however didn't seem to mind his horrible appearance as he appeared at the boys side, "Harry what happened?"

Before he could even answer the normally prankster/joker of a man in public brought the boy in for a solid hug, "I thought I had lost you!"

Harry gripped his dad, finally feeling the magnitude of everything that had happened fall in his shoulders, "We defeated the basilisk dad. Dumbledore and I killed it, but its not over."

Lily asked from behind them with her voice breaking, "What about your brother Harry?"

Harry grinned weakly, "It will take more than just a hit to the head to knock him out of a fight. He wasn't petrified as far as I could tell, and I pulled him from the chamber with no damage that magic could find."

Lily seemed to sag to the floor in relief, while Sirius was now holding Rosalie back from rushing to her clearly injured brother.

Dumbledore stood before the crowd now, "Today tragedy has been avoided at Hogwarts. With the diligent efforts of myself and Mr Potter Slytherins monster has been defeated, and now lies dead at the entrance to the castle. More of that later. Right now, I wish for all students to return to their dormitories. There is one thing the teachers must do to secure the castle, at which point the DMLE will personally rule the place secure.

Amelia Bones came up to Dumbledore demanding explanations, but the man merely told her that now was not the time or place. After relenting a bit however he informed her that there was a wizard that needed to be dealt with very carefully in the Chamber, and she seemed to take the hint. She then addressed some of the parents and visitors, that her department would indeed be filing a full investigation on everything that had happened today, and in the past few months, while Dumbledore was gathering friends from within the castle to go and confront Tom.

Harry's friends from Hufflepuff seemed to eye the boy in amazement, while his closer friends seemed to realize this was not the time or the place to approach him and see if he was okay.

When Sirius finally let go of his little sister Rosalie came shooting towards Harry, embracing him lightly, afraid of hurting the injured boy any further crying into his shoulder, "I thought we lost you Harry. I heard you scream about the doors, and then we all heard the boom of the wards. The others tried to get through the doors, and blasted the wards, and we also heard you scream at the basilisk, but then the headmaster disappeared, and we had hope, but then the noise stopped and we thought...we thought..."

Harry hugged his sister tightly, and assured her that Jack and he both were okay, and that things were going to be fine.

Harry turned to his dad, godfather, and mum, who were all close enough to hear him speak quietly, "The Dark Lord has risen. He is down in the chamber. Dumbledore is gathering the man power to go and stop him before he escapes, and starts another war. He needs me to direct you guys through the chamber, at which point you can hopefully overwhelm him with numbers."

The others all looked at Harry as if he had grown a third head, but Dumbledore was over shortly confirming what Harry had just said. The prefects and such were then asked to escort their students back to their dormitories, while Professor Sprout, and Professor Slughorn followed the students to ensure the transition went smooth. Professor Mccgonagal and Flitwick however had remained with the party that was being formed to go down into the chamber, and finish the fight with Tom Riddle. The rest of the party consisted of Lily, James, Sirius, Amelia, Amos, the Abbots, and the two aurors that were waiting upstairs, one of whom he was told was John Dawlish, which he had heard his father complain about quite a bit in the past.

When the students were escorted out, Professor Sprout had tried to take Harry with her, but Dumbledore infuriated the women by telling her his services were still required, "He has already helped enough Dumbledore! If you are taking a puff then you should have to take all of us!"

Cedric and Darrel were standing firmly behind the women as the house leaders, and voiced their agreement, while Harry was trying to shake his head at his friends to indicate that they did not want to come, but Dumbledore put them at ease, "Rest assured Professor Sprout. Your student is in the capable hands of his parents, and while I admire your loyalty, and likely agree with your assessment that Mr. Potter has done enough, we cannot access the Chamber of Secrets without him."

The women looked like she was going to protest more, but Harry stepped forward to the women, "Its going to be okay Professor. I have the strongest witches and wizards in the country in this party. We will be fine."

Professor Sprout seemed to eye the party suspiciously, as if she was determining whether they could keep her badger safe, so Harry decided to placate the women, "Professor Sprout. There is something I need you to do for me."

The women raised an eyebrow at one her star students, and Harry looked from his parents to his sister with clear intent in his eyes, and his dad nodded subtly, "I need you to take my sister and make her a badger. We are going to go handle a few things, and I don't want anything to happen to her."

Heidi and his friends came forward for the girl, while Professor Sprout smiled, "Ah another Potter in my house would indeed be glorious. Come a long dear, I am sure you will recognize some of your brothers friends. They will let you in on some of the secrets of our house."

Harry looked at Cedric and Darrel sternly, clearly saying '_Protect her_'. Darrel gave a nod back, while Cedric grinned reassuringly at the boy. The badger house then marched onto towards the common room, and Harry hoped that he would be seeing them all again real soon.

The following ten minutes that led to his party getting into the chamber, and down into the chamber were intense. There was nerves when it came to facing the Dark Lord, and some were amazed when they saw the basilisk skin which had been shed, considering none of them had seen the actual monster. This however did cause his mother to put hands on his shoulders protectively.

When Harry opened the last door in the walkway that led to the actual chamber he warned the Potter, and then opened the door which led to the massive chamber. The group stalked forward, and a young man was staring at the great statue of Salazaar Slytherin. Dumbledore came in front of the group, while Harry was pushed to the back seeing the now fully resurrected Lord Voldemort, "It was foolish of you to try this tonight Tom. I have brought some of the strongest witches and wizards of the light with me tonight. You stand no chance against our combined power."

The Dark Lord chuckled, "You always seem to misunderstand my plans Dumbledore. You see old man you have lost. My Horcrux is gone, and this is only a figment of my power, that I was willing to part with. We will call it cutting loose ends if you will."

Harry looked around the chamber for the diary, but it seemed the Dark Lord was not bluffing, it was gone, and so was Draco. Lucius however remained dead on the floor with the gashes still on his back. Dumbledore didn't seem to notice this at the moment however and aimed his wand at the young Tom Riddle, "Whatever your plans are Tom, we will continue to stop them. The light always wins."

The others all drew their wands and pointed them at the man, with Harry even doing the same, while the Dark Lord just laughed, "Not this time!"

He didn't even move, but he didn't seemed to care either. Twenty spells went flying at the man and when they made impact the man merely crumbled, like he had the last time Harry had encountered the man.

Harry wasn't sure why, or what had happened, but for now the Chamber of Secrets seemed to have been a large trap that had been sprung, and for the life of him he couldn't seem to count this day as a victory given the way in which the Dark Lord departed. As he looked around at the relief of some of the adults he caught the pensive look on the headmasters face, and knew this was anything, but over.

**(A/N)**.


	30. The Birth Of A Dyansty

**Chapter 30**

"_Were you truly naïve enough to believe you could defeat me Potter. I am the most powerful Dark Lord of all time. You are a mere school boy. I possess the power of an immortal you insolent child. Crucio!"_

_Pain coursed through the young man's body as he screamed out for someone...anyone to help him. The chamber of secrets was dimly lit with small torches giving the room very little light. The basilisk was resting off to the side preparing to attack the small thriving creature on the ground. The young man cried out, "Please stop! I was only trying to protect them!"_

_The Dark Lord laughed with his blood red eyes shining with mirth, "And I was only trying to take over the wizarding world. You killed one of my most faithful followers, and now I will kill you."_

"_No please I didn't mean to kill him! I didn't want to kill anyone!"_

_The face of Lucius Malfoy was now the image, with a young familiar despicable child crying over his body. The image shifted back to the Dark Lord and the last words heard were, "AVADA KEDAVRA!"_

A terrified scream rang throughout the Hufflepuff tower. A young man was thrashing around in his bed in fear, and in pain. The mental toll that had taken control of the youngest Potter was far greater than the physical pain since the incident down in the chamber. Darrel Abbot had jumped onto the bed and grabbed the young boy and wrapped him up from the behind to prevent from hurting himself again. Cedric Diggory was crouched down in a prone position trying to talk Harry down, while Ernie was standing back with his wand drawn in case Harry loses his mind again, and starts attacking.

These boys knew the drill, nothing good had happened since the Chamber incident. All school activities had been canceled for a few days after the events that took place below the school, and aurors had swarmed the school. During these first few days they had to remove Harry's unwilling housemates from their dormitory. Zacharias was the only real problem. Ernie was willing to stick by his friend, and Wayne spent most of his time with Justin while he was recovering in the hospital wing. Once the basilisk had been killed the magic behind the petrification was reversed, and the victims were restored to normal health. They were very weak, with Hermione obvious needing serious physical therapy so she stayed in the hospital wing, for most of the past week, and Justin was invited to stay back for safety, and to be monitored. Given the situations Wayne and Justin decided to stay away from their dorm rooms for at least a while. Zacharias was given Cedric's bed, and Darrel had already offered his to Wayne or Justin, but the leaders of the house agreed that they owed Harry for their grievances with the value of trust.

Harry had been quiet for the most part, except for at nights where his nightmares took control. The guilt of what he had done in the chamber to Lucius Malfoy, and the fear of the situation gripped him the night after the battle, and it had been relentless ever since.

The screams slowly subsided into sobs, just as they had each night before, and Darrel was holding his small friend tightly, and Cedric was still speaking consoling words to him, but he was starting to calm down a bit which gave Ernie the chance to relax knowing that it was almost over for the night.

When the sobbing didn't stop Ernie left the room to get Hannah, and when he returned the girl looked greatly troubled as she came over to her best friend, "Harry I am here. Its me Hannah. Your okay. Your among friends who are going to keep you safe. Its okay."

She motioned for her brother to let him go, and Cedric to back up as she came forward and tightly embraced the boy. He started whimpering into her ear, "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to kill anyone."

The girl shushed him, "Its okay Harry, you saved all our lives. If Lucius had lived the Dark Lord would've been able to summon his followers, and many people could have died. You saved us all from a terrible fate from the basilisk, you did nothing wrong Harry."

The boys sobs turned weaker and weaker, when he finally was just sniffling. At that point he wiped at his eyes, now fully cognizant, and embarrassed that it had happened again. Blushing he said quietly, "Sorry guys. I couldn't take another dreamless sleep draught, my mum thinks I am going to get addicted. I didn't mean to keep you guys up, I'm sorry."

Hannah gave the boy a soft smile, "You saved everyone's life Harry, a few nights with an hour of less sleep is a pretty merciful sacrifice compared to giving up or lives."

Harry nodded giving the other boys sheepish looks, while Darrel patted the boy on the back, and walked back over to his bed. Cedric sighed, "We've got your back Harry, and if we have to sit beside you at night everyday until the end of the year, or even into the summer then we will. Goodnight buddy."

Giving the boy a thankful, but sad smile he turned to Ernie whom asked, "Do you need anything before I go back to sleep Harry?"

Holding out a fist he said, "I'm good man, thanks for looking out for me."

Ernie touched his knuckles to his and nodded, "Of course, you would do it for me, no question. Goodnight."

A few minutes passed, while Hannah made no movements to leave. He took the 13 year old girl looking her over carefully. She was definitely maturing into her body. She was a little shorter than he was, but her pigtails made her clean face, and cerulean blue eyes quite beautiful instead of the usual pretty that she used to be. Her tank top, and short shorts also revealed to Harry that she was maturing young women, which made the boy smile at the thought of what she would look like in a few years.

She was watching him with great concern, and he put a hand on her cheek gently, "You should go to bed Hannah, thanks for bringing me out of my funk. Glad I could always count on you to be there for me."

The girl gave him a slight smile, "You have saved my life 4 times now Harry, I think me staying up with you for an hour an occasional night is the least I could do to pay you back, and show you my loyalty is just as strong as yours."

Looking the girl in the eye he whispered, "Its an endearing trait Ms. Abbot."

Just barely blushing the girl responded, "Why thank you Mr. Potter, I am glad you like it so much."

The two looked at each other for a moment, and they started inching towards each other when finally he heard a voice call out, "Potter if your going to kiss my sister, do it and send her butt to bed. Its too late for the sweet stuff!"

Both blushed heavily, and instead of being the son of a Marauder the boy choked up kissing the girl on the cheek, "Goodnight Hannah, and thank you."

The girl looked slightly disappointed, but she smiled and stood up saying her goodnight to the boys, and running off. Harry glared at his friend in his bed who was slightly shaking with laughter in his bed, and threw his pillow at Cedric who was laughing out loud at the young mans fail, "That was not funny. I understand why you said something, but its not funny guys!"

This caused the two older boys to laugh even harder, and he knew Ernie was grinning as he stared up at the ceiling, he couldn't see it, but he just knew. In this moment they were just like normal boys, and it felt good to Harry's soul. The rest of the night he lied awake pondering a certain blonde girl, and if he had what it took to kiss the girl anytime soon.

The next morning was day two of the delayed dueling matches. Due to the fact that this was the last event of the year, and it was going to be quite a publicized event because of what happened last week, Dumbledore moved into the evening before dinner. Harry knew this meant that on this Saturday evening even more spectators would show up, and Darrel had been preparing people to fight off stage fright all morning and afternoon. When the time came to leave the common room he called out, "Everyone follow in. I want us all to go in together. The team and then the rest of the house following right behind us. Hufflepuff is united, and after the events of last week it is important to show people that nothing has changed, and that we are going to obtain our last victory for back to back PERFECT SEASONS! HUFFLEPUFF FIGHTS?"

"TO WIN!"

As Darrel led his house out of the common the three leaders of the house led the way, and took turns calling out, "WE FIGHT!"

And the house behind them would roar out, "To win!"

As they marched towards the great hall this chant filled the hallways. Many of the people who were heading to the event stopped in awe and watched the united house march through the school. It was probably very rare that an entire house was able to gather and march through the hallway. There were no exceptions, because everyone knew how important this event was, and they all followed Harry, Cedric, and Darrel without question.

When they reached the hall the three leaders turned to the hall, and in front of maybe more than a hundred adult spectators called out one last chant as one, and then broke off into the group of students, and the group of duelist. The crowd was pretty impressed as there was a standing ovation for the house of badgers.

Dumbledore had a very happy look on his face as he announced the the ten minute warning to the match, "Today the match is to decide the MVP, and Rookie of the Year will be decided, as the gauntlet for the year 1992 already belongs to the house of Badgers."

This led to a large amount of cheering the student section, and when they finished he continued, "This is the last match of the year, which was previously post poned from the week before, so I thank everyone for making their way out, and I also want to thank Mr Potter publicly for standing with me and defeating the basilisk, and potentially saving hundreds of lives. Please give a standing ovation for the Hufflepuff Quidditch MVP, and hero of Hogwarts Harry Potter!"

No matter what anyone in the hall thought of Harry Potter, every single person stood to clap, because even an idiot recognized a sacrifice when they saw one, and last week the Wizarding World saw that their savior was willing to sacrifice his life for theirs and their children's. Harry held his hand in the air and waved in appreciation, and he was sure Darrel or Cedric one started it, but every member of Hufflepuff held their wands in the air and lit them dimly causing little white lights to appear all over the room. Many Gryffindors followed suit, a very small number of ravens, and a fewer number of adults did the same. It was a show of allegiance, a sign that a witch or wizard would follow the respected person to the end of the world.

Harry was truly touched by the number of wands that lit. He saw his brother, Neville, and many many more from Gryffindor, and almost every Hufflepuff he could see. He looked up to Dumbledore smiling at him very brightly, and he felt more confident in that moment than he ever had in his life. When the moment was over Dumbledore said the match would start in five minutes, and the team quickly went to warming up.

Today's line up would start with number 12 seed Leanne Summers, then #10 seed Gabriel Truman, #8 seed Ernie McMillan, #6 seed Susan Bones, #4 seed Heidi Macavoy, and Co-Captain #2 seed Cedric Diggory.

As Harry was warming up Gabriel, he saw Oliver Wood motion for him to come over to him, and he called Anthony to come and take over, while he approached the co captain of the Gryffindor Dueling team, "Hey Ollie whats up?"

Standing with Oliver was a tall hulking man standing at 6 foot 5 inches at least with a beaters muscles, and clearly a quidditch players fatigue, he knew this man had to be the tall boys father, "Harry, I hope you have a second. This is my dad Carmichael Wood, he is apart of the U-17 English Dueling Team playoff organization. I am sure you know what that is considering how your family is, but dad this is a good friend of mine, and bitter adversary on the pitch, Harry Potter."

Carmichael offered one of his colossal hands to the hardly medium sized boy, "Harry Potter, I have heard phenomenal things about you. I also watched you take action last week, and save many lives. You're a hero son."

Harry blushed under the man's heavy praise, while Oliver looked excited to see the two men talking, "Honestly sir I was just trying to keep my family and friends safe, and your son is definitely one of those people. We have all become pretty tight this year, and I hope we can continue to strengthen ties between our families."

Oliver grinned while Carmichael laughed, "Spoken like a true heir from an Ancient and Noble House. You can relax though kid, I am not here to talk politics, I am more interested in talking sports and recreation."

"I am afraid I don't follow you sir?" Harry said inquisitively.

Oliver however saved the day saying, "My dad is in charge of the Falmouth Falcons U17 underage dueling team. He goes around the country trying to find the best duelist, and puts forth a team into the tournament where they are given the opportunity to win the English Championship, train for a year, and then compete on a world level."

Carmichael patted his son on the shoulder, "My son finally landed a spot on that team this year, and when I heard there were students beating him here at Hogwarts, I had to come and see it for myself. You have some ferocious duelers in your house Mr. Potter, and I was wondering if you think they along with yourself would be interested in competing in a league with my son, and his friend Neville Longbottom, whom I understand you are acquainted with?"

Olive once again spoke for the pair, "Harry and Neville have been friends since they were newborns practically, they used to train together everyday. Harry is currently the better duelist though, and if by the last match indicated anything there is quite the gap for now."

The oldest Potter scion grinned at the praise from the Gryffindor Quidditch captain while confirming the statements as well, "Its true sir. Neville is a great duelist though. May I ask whom in my house you are looking to recruit? I am sure I can speak to them, and set up something for you to meet them on friendly terms."

Carmichael put his hand on his stubble and watched the team warm up, and claimed, "Honestly half your team is pretty fit. Mr. Abbot would be a definite, if he would be willing. I hear Mr Diggory, and Ms Macavoy are quite talented, but I need to watch the duels today to be sure. As far as it stands only you and Mr Abbot are guaranteed an invitation to my team this summer. Ms. Clearwater from Ravenclaw house will also receive one, while most of the Slytherins I wished to approach were either already taken or to old, like Mr Higgs, whom was already seventeen."

"How does that work sir? Darrel is sixteen now, and will be seventeen in August!" Harry explained sadly.

Carmichael shook his head, "As long as he does his first match under the age of seventeen he is perfectly eligible to compete!"

"Brilliant, how many duelist to a team?"

Oliver answered that one, "Ten. Four of which might come from your house Harry. I will put forward two from the Gryffindor team, one from Ravenclaw, and dad his eyes on a few others outside of Hogwarts in the Isles, like Ireland, and Luxembourg. We will honestly just have to see. We may have to reach out to someone like Hannah, Susan, or Jack, because Percy already said his intern with Minister this Summer was not going to be interrupted!"

Oliver rolled his eyes at this as if nothing could be more important than dueling or playing Quidditch. Carmichael put a hand on his sons shoulder while he spoke, "You can only give your best word for us Mr Potter, but can I count you in for the U17 Falmouth Falcons 1993 season?"

The man offered his hand, and Harry took it without hesitation, "I can't see my parents having a problem with it, and you can count me in sir."

The man grinned, "I would love a shot at the title this year, and maybe move on the worlds and make something of this team. England hasn't won a world title in many years, and it may not be next year, but I believe it can be soon if we work for it. Thank you for willing to be part of that effort. I look forward to speaking with your parents, and setting up practice meetings!"

The two men at that point shook hands, and Harry along with Oliver did as well wishing their respective teams false good luck.

When Harry made it back over to his team he went straight over to Darrel in a daze. At first the young man was talking with Susan about an injury she had in last weeks match, but when he got to the duo they both looked worried, Susan asked first, "Harry are you okay?"

Nodding stupidly he looked to his captain, "We've been invited to play on the Falmouth Falcons U17 dueling team. Oliver's dad runs the team..."

Stunned silence then Darrel asked in a stunned tone, "Ollie Oliver? The one from the Gryffindor Quidditch team?"

Susan gaped, "So were just you and Darrel invited?"

Harry shook his head, "Depending on how Cedric and Heidi do today they will get invites too. Penelope Clearwater, and Neville have already received theirs along with obviously Oliver."

Darrel whistled, "That is huge. That could lead me straight to the circuit!"

He was just about to start celebrating and approach Cedric, but she immediately stopped him, "You should wait D. If you tell them now then they will psyched out and may not perform well. Let them go with a clear mind, they have enough stress trying to protect the streak."

Darrel nodded his head in agreement while Harry merely said, "Were going to be on a legitimate national dueling team. This is an incredible opportunity to meet people, and get more training, gather allies. This could be huge. The more of us that are there the better, so I think Sue is right, lets see this play out, and keep them in the dark for now."

The three watched as Hannah and Heidi team up against Cedric for a warm up, and then watched as the headmaster called the match to a start. At this point the match was pretty boring. Leanne went straight down against Lee Jordan. Gabriel only did slightly better taking the darker boy down, and then being instantly defeated by Angelina. Ernie came out next, and took down Angelina Johnson, which theoretically had them in a tie as both #8 seed duelist faced off against each other. George Weasley was the #8 seed duelist, and put a fairly good whooping on Ernie with prank magic that Harry wasn't sure had been invented yet, which brought the red headed angel to the stands.

Over the year Susan had probably made the best power leap, and the girl was basically basking in confidence these days. The confidence was justly founded to as she took down both Fred and George Weasley with crafty freezing spells, allowing her to face a 7th year that Harry had never been acquainted with before, and never heard much about. The boy was fairly tall, and must have been filling in for someone on the team, because he had no recognition of the man. All he heard was Dumbledore refer to him as Mr Cadogan. The duel that followed was a very long duel where Susan was relentless with her blasting curse combinations and chains.

Darrel whispered over to Harry, "If she wins this duel they would be insane not to give her rookie of the year. Your brother did great, but he also lost in the first fight last week, and I imagine that couldn't have gone well. You probably deserve the MVP, but I think they will give it to you, Cedric, or Penelope. I think Cedric and you have the same number of wins, but its hard to-"

In mid sentence the Gryffindor boy caught a blasting hex straight to the chest probably breaking several bones, and throwing him straight backwards off the platform and slamming onto the ground. Susan stood like a warrior princess at that moment with her wand still at her side as if waiting to be attacked from a different direction. With her unique youthful beauty she looked every bit the part of a pureblood heiress.

She had pulled off 3 wins, and would now be facing a fully charged Oliver Wood, while she looked just about ready to pass out any moment. The #2 seed vs #6 seed duel was fairly short with Oliver being fairly merciful and not being super aggressive with the girl as he put her down. The next fight was much better than he expected as Heidi and Oliver squared off, but Heidi's shielding proved to be the key to victory at the end of the day. She defended until the point where Oliver was running out of steam, and then barraged him repeatedly with high powered element charms, which in the end knocked him into submissions with a powerful aqua erecto which dropped the boy right off the platform, ending the 1992-1993 dueling season.

The Hufflepuff team swarmed the pitch, with the house not far behind. Harry noticed that at first Cedric didn't look thrilled because he knew that would put him completely out for MVP, but the sweetness of taking another dueling gauntlet trophy to the house ended up overtaking his desire to be MVP, and he quickly joined in the celebrations with the rest of his house.

Dumbledore and the other heads of house made their way to the center, and Dumbledore announced, "Congratulations to the 6-0 Badgers whom have just won their second consecutive dueling gauntlet!"

With that Dumbledore handed the trophy to Professor Sprout who held it up, and a roar of Hufflepuff chants started. After a moment Dumbledore held his hands up, "We still have two awards however to give out. First to the MVP. This individual won 8 matches this year, and took a team with no leadership, or proper guidance and turned it into a functioning machine. Well done to Ms. Penelope Clearwater!"

Some cheers came from the student sections, and the pockets of Ravenclaw students and dueling members, while everyone on the Hufflepuff side clapped. Harry was hardly upset at all knowing that Penelope had definitely deserved the trophy.

Dumbledore then continued, "The Rookie of the year award was a very close race, so we would like to give an honorable mention first to Mr Jack Potter, whom won 5 matches this year, well done! Also to Ms Hannah Abbot whom won 4 matches, well done indeed!"

A polite applause swept the great hall, but when Dumbledore continued there was complete silence, "However the rookie of the year goes to a young lady who won 7 duels, and belongs to our gauntlet champions. Ms. Susan Bones congratulations on being the rookie of the year!"

The girl looked shocked as the others pushed her towards the podium she smiled brightly, and met Dumbledore up in front of the whole school and accepted her much earned award proudly. With that chants wrung out through the air, and even some people in the other houses were chanting "STREAK!" In the honor of Hufflepuff's new dynasty.

Shortly after the ceremony Darrel called his team over to have some last words before the Summer, "Well guys we go back on the train to home very soon, and for those of you participated on the team thank you so much for being apart of this championship winning team it was greatly deserved, as we shed the most blood, tears, and experienced the most pain. We had some tough points in our season, on the pitch and off the pitch, but we powered through each obstacle together, and as long as we all stick together we can keep continuing to do these great things."

A couple of people in the audience screamed POWER THROUGH, but it was quickly refilled with respective silence as he continued, "Next year is my last year at Hogwarts, and if everyone will please keep me in mind when your just sitting around this Summer, please train, because it would mean the world to me, if we could take one last Gauntlet to the house before I go off to different things in our world. It would mean the world if my friends, and house could gather one last time and win TWO MORE CHAMPIONSHIPS!"

This got peoples attention, as the boy was now clearly excited, "We have so much talent here, and we need to make the most of it. Go home and train or study hard this Summer, because next year, for me thats it. And one day you will be facing your farewell year, and you can only pray that you have people half as dedicated to you as my duelist are to me. Thanks for being a part of the ride guys, we have one year left! Hufflepuff FIGHT?"

And the team screamed back, "TO WIN!"

It was after that a huge team hug ensued, and the chants of Hufflepuff had once again started again. They were short lived though as most of the crowd had started to disperse. The families of the dueling teams were still hanging around, and Harry got the thumb of approval from Carmichael Wood that his teammates were for sure invited, and that was when Harry approached Heidi and Cedric about what the head of the Wood had told him. Cedric was so excited, and Heidi was shocked that she had been invited, while Darrel was standing close by now conversing with the group, as Oliver and Mr. Wood came over to speak to the duelist, "I hope Mr. Potter has briefly told you who I am, and I would like to confirm or inform you that I would like the four of you to come and compete for my U17 dueling team, the Falmouth Falcons."

Darrel was the first to say, "Sir it would be my distinct pleasure, its my dream to be on the professional circuits one day, and I really appreciate the opportunity."

Cedric nodded, "If Darrel and Harry are in so am I. Were a team, and I would love to get some more training and experience."

Heidi was the last to say, "If you are willing to accept that I am a muggleborn, and that you take me on nothing but my own skill, then I would love to join my boys on this team. It sounds like a lot of fun, and a really good challenge."

Carmichael grinned widely, "Then that is four yeses. I will speak with each of your parents shortly so I can sort out any of the legal stuff since you are all under 17. I warn you that we played 16 games all fairly close together. We have two weeks to practice and get it all sorted out for seeding such things. I also should say that the level of competition you will be facing is going to be much higher than what you are generally used to. These are the best of the best around the country, but I have seen the way your team fights through our family pensieve and I am very impressed. It would be an honor of mine to give you all the resources to win a national title, which I believe you are all very capable of doing."

Everyone shook hands with the Woods then, and started chattering excitedly. It didn't take much for Carmichael Wood whom was an astute businessman to square things away with the parents, and when the Hufflepuffs were on the train ride home it was all they could think of!

**(A/N) This dueling U17 storyline is going to introduce 3 new minor characters who will have important later in the years, but not much relevance after the Summer. The Summer will be about 5-6 chapters, and then third year will begin. Thank you for your continued support, and please review!**


	31. Falmouth Falcons

**Chapter 31**

The first week of Summer went by dreadfully slow for Harry as he was so anxious to get to the dueling camp, and start preparing for the season. His whole family was actually pretty excited. Jack was upset for only about 2 minutes, until Harry told him that he would get tickets for every game, so he could come watch, and maybe even down on the pitch with him during a couple of matches. Rosalie was slightly upset, because her big brother would be so busy during the Summer, but also understood that her brother was very talented, and that it was just like his usual training, but just away from home. The elder Potters were ecstatic that there son would get this opportunity to go meet new people, and leave a mark of the House Potter where ever he went and competed.

It was two nights before dueling training started with the Falcons, and it was very late when James Potter came knocking at his oldest sons door. Harry still wasn't sleeping well through the nights, so despite the late hour he was still awake working on his occulmency shields, so when he heard the knock at the door he waved his hand to open it with a bit of wandless magic. James Potter grinned at his son, "Hey buddy, what are you doing?"

Harry's eyes opened slowly, "Just working on my mind scape Prongs, shouldn't you already be out with Moony and Padfood, its a full moon tonight!"

When his father replied he knew he was talking to Prongs, instead of the usually stern James Potter, "Actually you're right, but I realized I forgot something at home, so I came back to pick it up. So come on lets go!"

The shaggy haired boys eyes widened, "What?"

Prongs looked at his watch, "You are an animagus now aren't you, and we are late! Come kid lets get to our fellow Marauders!"

"Fellow Marauders?" Harry asked in shock.

James looked confused for a moment, before a huge smile broke out on his face, "Of course I almost forgot!"

As the man reached into his back pocket he pulled out a small case that looked suspiciously like a wand case, and the Lord of the Potter house sat down on the bed, and patted the spot next time him to motion his son to have a seat next to him. As Harry did so his father began talking, "The old boys and I decided that you had completed your Marauder training, and that it was now time for you to join us. We also decided to make a tradition to give our children something very special for their initiation should they decide to join us in our ranks. For you Harry, I made you something very special."

He then handed his son the case, and Harry knew that whatever was in it was going to be exceptionally powerful, he could practically taste it. When he opened the case he saw the most beautiful red and orange wand, with a phoenix carving on the bottom of it, and as Harry took it into his hands, a power surge went through his body, and items all across the room were beginning to levitate. It was unlike anything had ever felt before. James looked like he would cry in the moment, and he said quietly, "For generations Potters used to have to make their first wand, and while I didn't make my primary, I made my secondary with the skills my grandfather taught me. I had hoped this would be a fit for you, its basilisk venom mixed with phoenix tears, a phoenix feather, and the wood I had to have imported, its African Blackwood, something that will appease your animagus side, because I did research and gorillas can eat this stuff, and swing from it."

Harry couldn't wait to duel with this wand, as it was a better fit than his original holly and phoenix feather wand, but could tell this wand was much more charged with the balance of light and dark magic swirling though it. This wand would be able to do despicable things if Harry so wished it. Instantly grateful for the gift the oldest Potter son brought his dad into a tight hug, "Thanks dad, its perfect!"

James put a soft kiss on the top of his sons head as they embraced, and when they separated he said, "Now lets go get you officially inducted into the Maruaders. We have a long night ahead of us."

Harry was so excited that today he would finally get a chance to join his father and honorary uncles in the night. When the two men apparated away, and Harry landed in front of Remus' home he looked around to see if he would spot the animagus and werewolf. When he found them with his eyes he saw a giant stag playing with a grim, and both being tackled by the large werewolf and rolling on the ground. Lily had never allowed the kids to be around the marauders on the full moon just in case, but in this moment, Harry felt like he had been missing out. He just watched the grown men play around for a short while, when Padfoot turned on him, and bounded towards him.

As the young man grinned, he launched himself forward reaching for his animalistic side, and when the grim jumped in the air he went straight into the arms of a very large gorilla, and got tossed backwards. The three Marauders were now watching the powerful young man in front of them in anticipation, and wanting to put on a show Harry went on two legs and pounded his chest roaring out into the night!

The wolf and grim howled into the night, while the stag stood at full height as any proud parent would in his situation. When the show was over Mooney took off into the night, with Padfoot right behind him. Prongs and Kong stared at each other for only a split second when the stag took towards his friends, and Harry bounded forward determined to have one of the best nights of his life!

The night was long and glorious for the Marauders as they inducted a new member into the ranks, and as they all sat towards the end of a cliff they let their pup witness the most beautiful sunrise any of them would ever see. It was the dawn of a new chapter, and a new beginning in each of their lives. The next generation of Marauders was being born, and it was a glorious night for the originals.

When the sun was up, and Mooney had transformed back into his human form the marauders all changed back, and group hugged it out, before they each apparated back to Potter manor for the traditional morning breakfast that Lily Potter would have ready for the men.

When James grabbed his son to take him back home Harry said, "Promise me we can do this again?"

The older man laughed apparated his son home, and when they landed he threw his arm around him, "Son we can do this every full moon you are home. One day a month until all of us bite the dust, Then it will be up to you and your siblings to keep it up."

Harry smiled at the thought of bringing more Marauders into the group, and spending nights like this with them.

As Harry came through the door to his home, he felt two arms wrap around him tightly, "Congratulations my little Marauder! Breakfast is already for you boys, and I expect you to go get some rest young man, you have an important day tomorrow." Lily Potter said sternly!

Harry yawned really hard at this, and took a deep breath, and agreed with the red headed mother, and ate his food quickly. Sirius told his Godson at the table that he was really happy to have him along with them, while Remus agreed that it was good to have more company. At the table it was also brought up that once Jack started his training in August, they wanted Harry to invite Cedric and Darrel to attempt and learn the animagus transformation. They wanted to give Jack a bit of a head start, because Animagus didn't really get any faster if you older or more powerful, as long as you had the initial amount of power to do it, then you can become one no matter how old you are. Jack wasn't quite there yet, but he would be at the beginning of the third year or maybe around his 13th birthday if he was a quick learner on the matter.

Agreeing with the other Marauders that during the school year he would attempt to teach Darrel and Cedric the transformation, As this was decided Harry was marching off to bed to get a good days rest, and mentally prepare himself for the next day where he would attempt to continue his path as a champion.

**(A/N) In this time line the kids get out of school on June 1st. Thanks for reading, and sorry for the interruption. **

Harry slept through most of the day before. He woke up in the evening and worked out his body pretty well, but tried to refrain from using much magic so his core would be at full strength the next day.

When he awoke on the morning of June 16th, he rolled out of bed at 6:00am to shower, and get ready his first day. He had received a letter from Carmichael the day before with the floo address, and that he was to be there at 7am sharp.

The young man had a bit of nervous anticipation in his chest, but a quick visit from Rosalie that morning had made him relax. She came in and soothingly reminded him of his heritage and his skills which he worked so hard to earn. Despite only being eleven years old the girl was very comforting to the oldest Potter son, and she knew how to calm her siblings down very well. Rosalie may have the wrath of Lily Potter, but she also has her comforting side in spades.

Harry stepped through the floo into the Falcons training facility, and looked around in awe. He saw the backs of Heidi and Penelope Clearwater heading in a direction, and decided to try and catch up with them, but before he could Carmichael came out, "Morning Potter, your just on time. The girls are going to get changed in the locker room, and I ask that you do the same. Abbot, Diggory, and all the other boys are already here, so go get changed. Your locker number is not yet decided so just pick one! They are all unlocked today, so take whichever one you want!"

"Thanks Mr. Wood!" Harry exclaimed.

As he was heading off Carmichael called off, "You can just call me Coach now Potter. No point for all the formalities were all going to be friends here."

Nodding Harry responded, "Alright thanks Coach!"

As Harry made his way into the locker room it was totally decked out. The room was all red and black which was the Falcons colors, and the team had trophies, and articles of the teams success all over the room. There was also a wizarding wireless set near every locker. The benches seemed freshly polished, and the lockers looked pretty new.

Harry noted the guys were already in their uniform, and say his good mornings to everyone as he quickly changed into the very comfortable dueling gear that matched the rest of the boys. The pants were black, and fit very comfortably, while the shirt was a little tighter, but also long sleeve with some type of charm that Harry suspected was a cooling charm. When he got changed there was a new face in the circle and Harry introduced himself, "Hey guys... whats up man, I'm Harry!"

The boy across from had blonde sandy hair and looked about Cedric or Darrels age, with a fairly athletic body that matched his weight and height. The boys blue eyes seemed rather mischievous, but his hand shake and introduction sounded genuine, "Luke Walker, nice to meet you."

As they were heading back to the training area they talked briefly, where Harry learned that Luke went to a private school for magic, because he was also taking a muggle education on top of a magical one. He explained that he was a half blood, because he descended from an old pureblood line, but it had been diluted over the past three generations, so he definitely didn't qualify to be a pureblood anymore, and the school he was in didn't have much of a supremacy complex.

When the boys got to the circle Carmichael was standing in the middle of the four girls as they made some type of semi circle. Oliver explained that his dad wanted them to form a circle, and to cross their hands behind their backs.

The boys quickly fell in with Oliver's hint, and finished the girls circle, and crossed their hands behind their backs remaining quiet. Harry admired the very spacious room, which was just flat, and decorated with Falmouth decorations, and mats all the way around the room. There were also pillars that seemed to be used for the dueling training. He had a feeling they had nothing to do with keeping the building up.

After a moment of silence Carmichael spoke, "Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for joining me on day one of our training for U17 dueling league tournament. Today I am not going to talk a lot, so I will go over a couple of things. First, I want everyone in this room to know each other before anyone goes home. Speak to everyone briefly, as we are all going to be spending a bit of time together over the next few months. Second, even during practice I expect everyone to stick to the dueling rules, to prevent serious injuries. If you want to teach your teammates a spell that may not be appropriate for a match that is fine, because the whole point of dueling is to learn to defend yourself. It is very important. Another thing I want to let everyone know is that our first match is July 1st, and we will have a match every other day until the 30th of July where we will play the last game of the season. If we did alright in the regular season then we have a chance at going to playoffs which is a sudden death match. Any questions so far?"

Silence remained, and Wood continued, "Excellent. Moving on. Everyday I want you all to gather right here at 7:15. If you are not in this spot by 7:15 you will run laps around the quidditch pitch outside. I don't usually have a problem with tardies after the first person has to do it, so please don't be late. Now as today is day one, I am not going to ask much of you. However today we are going to seed the team. We will do this very simply. Mr. Walker, you were my first prospect, you are the first seed. Who wants to challenge him and attempt to be the number 1 seed for this team?"

Darrel immediately stepped forward, "I do Coach."

Carmichael grinned widely, "That is what I like to see. Enthusiasm combined with determination, I like you Abbot. Lets see it. Everyone back up."

Carmichael went and stood between the two duelist as everyone backed up. Harry stood next to one of the new people who was a girl and introduced himself, "Excuse me, I'm Harry. I am from Hogwarts, its nice to meet you."

The red headed girl smiled at the young man. She had about the same body type as Heidi which made her very attractive, and if Harry had to guess they were about the same age. She had really long slender legs, which made her taller than Harry, but not by much. She also had nice assets that made Harry appreciate the girls development as a women, "Natalie Truman, a pleasure Harry. I have heard good from things with you from my friend Heidi."

Harry looked questioningly at Heidi while she smiled at the young man, "Natalie is a muggleborn too. I met her at the orientation at the Scottish Academy of Magic. It was when I was still deciding which school I was going to go to. At the time my dad and I were living a little closer to that, but when I found out he wouldn't be able to visit regardless I decided to go live in a castle instead of a more college like area. We owl while I am at Hogwarts several times a year!"

Grinning, Harry turned to watch the formalities be given, "Spectators please draw your wands. The ward scheme will not be activated until tomorrow, so be prepared to block stray curses."

Natalie whispered over to Heidi and Harry, "I have seen Luke duel before, he is powerful, but his spells can go a little off target, so be prepared to shield."

Harry nodded pulling out his wand. He only briefly wondered how the girl saw him duel if they went to different schools, but he decided not to ponder such things as the duel was just beginning.

The first few spells that were traded is what Sirius would call beta testers. You gauge your opponents steps, and kinks before starting to actually volley spells. It was clear that Darrel was not going to do this for long as he stepped forward using an exaggerated motion, and using a verbal incantation, "Reducto!"

The spell zipped across the floor so fast Luke barely had time to shield it, but that proved to be pointless as the spell did not stop when it made contact. A solid red jet of light was continuously coming out of Darrel's wand and it was not stopping. It was clear the impact and power of the spell was weighing greatly on Luke, as after just a few seconds his shield dropped, and he attempted to spin and return fire, but mid-spin he took a stunner to the back, and was disarmed just as quickly.

Cedric whispered over to Harry, "He has been working on that since we got out of school. Its powerful, but its also pretty draining. If you want to challenge him now it would probably be really close."

Harry shook his head, "Darrel is the most powerful duelist in this room. I won't take this from him right now. He deserves it."

The group clapped politely while Carmichael announced, "Darrel will be given 5 minutes to rest, for now he is the number one seed. The number two seed will be given to Penelope Clearwater as she was the Hogwarts MVP last year. Does anyone wish to challenge this?"

Harry and Cedric looked at each other, and held out their fist doing a quick game of rock, paper, scissors, which left Harry victorious and smirked as Cedric frowned and raised his hand, "I challenge this assignment Coach."

The coach motioned for Cedric to come forward, and bowed them through the process. The following duel was lengthy, and rather impressive bits of magic between the sixth and seventh year duelist. Penelope looked good, but her stamina is what beat her. Her power levels weren't that special, but her speed, combinations, and repertoire was fantastic. The duel was still long lasting, but Cedric had trained to be able to duel forever, and when it was over he looked fully prepared to do it again.

When the duel was over the coach declared that Cedric was the second seed duelist and asked if anyone wanted to challenge Darrel for his first seed. The girl Harry had yet to meet look tempted, but she refrained from raising her hand.

Darrel was then declared the number 1 seed, while Carmichael said that Oliver was going to be the third seed unless someone protested, which of course Harry did.

When the two bowed in Harry started the duel off by starting a powerful blasting chain spell which put Oliver on his back foot. The boy was not going to be over powered though, and immediately spun around a few spells in a very nice pattern giving him the offensive. Harry however now had a stunning variety of shields, and for every piece of magic Oliver threw the oldest Potter son had a counter. Four minutes passed while Oliver hammered away at Harry, but he could not get anything through. Even when a shield breaker would hit him, he would just bring it right back up. Finally when Oliver paused between spells to catch his breath, Harry drew his other wand, and fired double stunners, following it up with freezing spells, Oliver was completely caught by surprise and took three of the four spells to the chest, having not brought up a sufficient shield to stop him.

The group was stunned into silence, while Darrel whispered loudly enough for Harry to hear, "I am glad he didn't challenge me, because I wouldn't have known what to do."

Carmichael then asked, "Good duel Potter. This is what we have so far. Darrel Abbot, #1, Cedric Diggory, #2, Harry Potter, #3, Penelope Clearwater, #4, Oliver Wood #5, Luke Walker, #6, now lets get this situated. You all have seen how this is done now. Does anyone want to challenge Diggory for the number 2 seed?"

Harry raised his hand, and Cedric groaned, while Harry smirked. Their duels were very back and fourth all the time, and it was hard to declare who the better duelist was...before Harry became an animagus.

Carmichael nodded, "Alright, its still early get it done boys."

The duel between Harry and Cedric was violent. The levels of magic went from first year levitation charms, to NEWT level curses. It was the longest duel of the afternoon, but Harry proved to fast for Cedric when he pulled out his secondary wand.

After the group had seen how Harry dueled when the basilisk/phoenix wand came out, no one else had decided to challenge him. Darrel told Harry that he wanted to duel him sometime that week while no one was watching to see whom was the better duelist, because he knew that Harry respected him to much to take his position as the captain of the dueling team, and the #1 seed. Neville had attempted to challenge Penelope for her spot, but could not beat the pretty Ravenclaw girl. The girl whom Harry had not yet met, Allison was unable to beat Cedric either, which left the Hufflepuff leaders in the top 3 positions. Heidi ended up beating Oliver out of the number 5 seed, while Penelope was cemented in after her 3rd victory. Oliver and Neville dueled for the the 6th seed after Neville lost to Heidi, which left Oliver in his first victory. Neville dueled with Luke and beat him into submission after a fairly good duel. The two girls Natalie and Allison ended up at a respective 9 and 10.

Carmichael nodded, "Very good ladies and gentlemen. So here it goes Darrel, Harry, Cedric, Penelope, Heidi, Oliver, Neville, Luke, Natalie, and Allison. Our first match is in two weeks, so get acquainted, hang out as long as you want. I will hang around and talk to everyone for a bit, but you are dismissed from practice. Good job everyone, and congratulations. Potter, Abbot, a quick word first."

Darrel and Harry coolly walked over to the coach as the team came into a smaller circle and began conversing on tactics and complimenting of skills.

When the boys made it over to the coach he put a hand on each of their shoulders, "You boys did much better than I expected, and I can tell I made some really good picks at Hogwarts, so thank you for being apart of this team. Also I want to make you two the captains of Team 1 and 2. Abbot like in Hogwarts you will fight with 1,3,5,7, and 9, plus I want you to lead them each match. Potter I want you to be the other Captain, leading 2,4,6,8, and 10. Normally I would ask if you are okay with this, but I am not going to give you much of a choice. I have seen you both show astounding leadership among your housemates, and I want you to be able to do here with these guys. Are we good?"

The boys glanced at each other, and nodded, "Yes coach."

"Sure coach."

He turned the boys around and patted them on the back roughly, "Good men! Go get get acquainted with the FNGs, learn about them, figure out their strengths, weaknesses, and then work with them on both. You are responsible for your five players, and of course you two can coordinate with me and each other as much as you want. The purpose of the U17 is instill leadership and skill in each duelist, so I want to see you boys take this very seriously. Good luck, and I will see you both tomorrow."

The boys gave their farewells to their coach, and went over to meet with the rest of the team. Harry was immediately approached by Allison, "Not to be bitter or anything, but how is it exactly a twelve year old is so powerful?"

Her tone was accusatory, as was the look on her face, but Harry had seen her duel, and he wasn't just thrilled by it. He honestly thought Hannah or Susan or even Jack could beat her, "I train a lot. Every day, no holidays. That and the Potter blood that flows through my veins, and the fact that my body has absorbed the killing curse could have something to do with it."

Allison was a girl of clear Asian decent. She was probably only two years older than Harry, which would put her at around 14 or 15. Using his political mind he assumed she was fourteen, that way if Carmichael took a chance on her, she would gain a lot of experience, and get to come back at a lower seed later on.

Her look changed from accusatory to calculating in an instant, "So you are that Harry Potter. The boy who lived and the savior of the wizarding world. Slayer of Dark Lords, and Basilisk."

Harry was watching Darrel and Cedric's reaction to the conversation as they stood close by listening in. He wasn't sure, but he thought everyone may be listening, "Those may all be correct, but I only take credit for the baslisk. The Dark Lord was defeated by a fluke of magic, and divine intervention. The basilisk was entirely the headmaster and I. I will add that I would not have stood a chance without the magic of Hogwarts defenses that greatly injured the beast as well."

Allison flipped her hair out of her face, which was rather short as she responded, "Your still the heir to house Potter as well."

Harry nodded, "That is something I can say is completely true. What about you, what is your heritage?"

Finally she offered her hand respectfully, "I'm Allison Macnair. I live with my mother in Southern England, closer to Dover. I am home schooled, but I duel for sport in the area, which is where Coach Wood found me. I didn't do particularly well today, but its hard to say that for sure, I have never faced this level of competition."

Knowing that she had to be related to Waldon Macnair he was a little hesitant, but he still took her hand, and kissed it gently knowing that she was still most probably a Pureblood, "My friends and I would be happy to assist you, and adjust, while also building on what skills you have. I am your team captain, so I will make myself available if you need extra training. I want us all to be successful, whatever it takes."

The girl looked surprised by his deceleration, particularly after the introduction of her heritage, but the oldest Potter son had made it clear in the past he judges people by their own action, not their families. The conversation however appeared to be over as she nodded, "I look forward to working with you Potter."

Cedric and Darrel finally relaxed when Harry responded peacefully, and the girl went to meet some of the others. They all talked for maybe thirty minutes, and Cedric congratulated Harry on his wins, and hoped they could rematch sometime at full strength, which he readily accepted.

At the end of it all Darrel called for everyone's attention and gave the spill on how he wanted training to run, and how he was also willing to work with everyone on anything they needed. Harry gave a spill more on the values of team work, and how well it has worked for them in the Hufflepuff house, which seemed to make some of the group smile at his desires.

When the team broke they all went home for the day, to relax, because the next day is when the fun would begin.

**(A/N) Guess what day it is? ITS UPDATE DAY! Reviews are super low right now, so please give me a shout so we can at least get back to ten to twenty reviews a chapter ^_^! Cheers, and I will see you all next Sunday!**


	32. Season Openers

**Chapter 32**

Over the next two weeks the team trained five hours a day everyday. It was nothing but dueling and by the end of it, everyone had dueled everyone probably a dozen times. The big duels were always between Darrel, and Harry. It went back and fourth a few times, but never when it was an official duel. The only time Harry had yet to win was if they were just throwing spells around at each other, and critiquing.

The day before the first match Harry had also finally gotten to the five minute mark on his shields. He held it for three minutes when Cedric came over, and at four minutes he was sweating pretty hard when Neville came in and started raining spells on him. At the 4:45 seconds mark he fell to one knee, but held his shields, and drew his other wand in hope for reaching to his core. Of course at 4 minutes everyone had turned to watch one of their captains and leader power through an epic struggle.

When Coach Carmichael called time Harry screamed out and a burst of power came from his body, and he fell to the floor in exhaustion. He was heaving for breath as applause came from the groups. Carmichael came over and patted his back saying, "That may be the finest shielding I have ever seen. 5 straight minutes. Who taught you that drill, and shield exercise?"

Harry coughed out, "The headmaster, Dumbledore."

Carmichael whistled, "So its true, Headmaster Dumbledore has taken an apprentice?"

Shaking his head Harry choked out, "No not exactly. I started having bits of accidental magic at a year old, and my parents were very friendly with him after the fall of the Dark Lord. He came by and started training me at the age of 7, because of my bloodlines as a Potter and our notorious reputations of fighting for the light."

"Could you have gone any longer?" Luke asked.

Reaching for someone to help him up, he answered, "Maybe a little bit longer if my life had depended on it. Had someone thrown a shield breaker in there though I wouldn't have had much left to counter with."

Darrel asked, "So next drill we add a second dueler at two minutes?"

Nodding the boy responded, "I guess so. I always thought I would be a fourth year before I got this part of the drill done."

Cedric hit the boy in the arm lightly, "Well done Harry. Your shields are now basically impenetrable. It will go a long ways when you start building ward schemes in your moms class."

Grinning the boy retorted, "I have a really good feeling about tomorrow."

The first match of the season was finally upon the team, and the nerves were high. Harry watched a U17 match from years before, and realized that both teams dueled every match. Team 1 and team 2 played the opponents team 1 and 2, and if they won both matches there would be no playoff match. If there was a playoff match and some kind of tie, then the captains would duel each other for the match. There are two captains for every team, and they are usually the #1 and #2 seed. Carmichael explained that it could be different, but it would be slightly foolish to put someone forward other than your best.

The first team they would be facing was the Ballycastle Bats, and from what Oliver had told the team they were pretty solid last year.

Arriving at the stadium the team was very impressed. No one had showed up late over the past two weeks, and only those whom had been to a Falmouth game had seen the stadium before. Each tournament just took place on the quidditch pitches, and the stands were built to fold down and form ground stands to where they could see all the matches taking place. Their first game also happened to be a home game for the record, which made it quite the interesting turn out.

Harry looked out to the crowd to see some familiar faces in his family, and some his friends from Hufflepuff whom had turned out in all red to show their support. Which of course for his mostly Gryffindor family that wasn't much of a problem.

Harry and Darrel stood next to each other with each set of their four respective players walking behind them. When they marched out onto the field their was a standing ovation, and the announcer was ecstatic, "And there is our home team for the 1993 Falmouth Falcons season. Led by captains Darrel Abbot and Harry Potter this is guaranteed to be an interesting season, especially with Coach Woods only second chance at the national title, and a completely new team. Many fans expressed their concern by the youth of this years team, but today will either make the critics roar in protest, or silence them in respect for a new powerful team that has been gathered."

Harry and Darrel didn't note much of what the announcer said, because when they made it to the two respective pitches, they paired off against each other to warm up in front of the crowd while the announcer said that the match would start in five minutes.

Darrel and Harry's warm up didn't consist of many spells, but more tricky maneuvers with their feet to ensure their coordination was all in place before the match. Silence was complete among the team as they all concentrated on the match ahead. When the #10 and #9 seed were called to take the stand Harry, Cedric, and Darrel pulled it in between the three of them and did a complex handshake that they had planned out the day before, and jumped against each other bouncing around to get the energy built up.

#10 Seed was Allison who was now standing across from a short boy named Travis Stoll, and Natalie was standing across from a short girl named Katie Gardner. Harry didn't focus on Natalie's duel, because he knew it was Darrel's job to keep the girl critiqued, and up to par, while his job was sure that his duelist was the best she could be. He had to give it to the Chinese girl, she was much faster with the thrill of the crowd watching her. She was wiping the floor with this short kid, but he could tell she was getting a little confident when she was only dodging spells she should have been shielding and countering. Over the past two few weeks Harry recognized each players talents and and failings, and one of Allison's was when she controlled the paste of the duel, she got sloppy. She was much better at coming back from something she should lose, and Harry was very glad when she managed to connect a water blasting charm to his face, and tied him up. When the boy didn't surrender she threw a blaster at his feet and threw him off the platform which was cushioned in every direction. On the other side he noticed Natalie was also successful in her attempt, which was a great start to the season.

The next duel however was a very different story. It went to show that every seed in this league was going to be a pretty large difference, because when the next duelist came out he managed to wipe out, Allison and Luke. When Oliver came out he took the tall boy down to his knee when Oliver dove to the ground in a desperate attempt to stay alive, and managed to stun the boy. He wasn't so lucky when a Conner Stoll took the field and overwhelmed him with the speed of his stunning curses. Harry admitted they were fast, and since Ollie was more of an offensive duelist he was quickly taken down.

Penelope went out next for his team, and he told her to just do her best and to make it quick. Harry never admired many Ravenclaws, but in the time that Harry had watched Conner fight with incredible speed, Penelope had already developed a counter to it. So when the duel started and Conner started flinging curses blindly, it backfired. Sure they had great accuracy and speed, but that ended up being his downfall as she threw up a mirror shield.

Harry roared his approval out as she took down the #6 seed, and evened the field. Harry took a look at Heidi taking the stage on their side which meant Cedric, and Darrel were still in the fight, and it looked like she was fighting the #3 seed. It was obvious to Harry that Darrel had the better team, but he knew he and Penny could pull the weight a little bit, and once Ollie calmed down a bit, and focused he would contribute a lot more to the team.

The next duelist that came onto the stands was dressed differently than the other duelist. He was wearing a red white and blue jacket, and it looked like it had the English flag on the back of it. The Bats were Black and Gold, so Harry was confused why he was wearing those colors. Olliver was suddenly looking very nervous and was biting his nails aggressively. Harry immediately asked, "Olliver what the hell is he wearing?"

He first whispered something that Harry couldn't really hear, and when he asked again Olliver practically yelped out, "Its the championship jersey from two years ago."

Harry's jaw dropped, "The Bats won the last English Championship?"

Olliver nodded while Harry barked out, "Why didn't Coach tell us this?"

Shrugging the young man spoke softly, "He didn't want to psyche you guys out, and knew your team had never lost a match while they were together, and wanted to see how you would handle a lost if something bad happened."

Harry growled at the reasoning, while Penelope looked at Harry questioningly, but he held a fist out to show her that she needs to be fast on the counter and very defensive. She nodded her head in understanding, and seemed to recognize that whatever she was facing was very powerful.

Harry whistled towards Darrel who turned his head to see what the problem was, and he made eye contact with his young friend, and followed his eyes to the new guy and his Jersey, while Harry mouthed the word Champions. Darrel nodded gravely immediately understanding.

Harry watched as Penny bowed to the boy across from him who looked maybe 15 years old, with dark circles permanently in his eyes, and he looked like he would kill over at any moment, his name was Nico Di Angelo, and he looked almost scary with his morbid look.

As the bowing process went Harry watched the boy very closely, having a terrible feeling that he was going to have to take this young man down with some serious power. The duel between Penny and Nico was actually pretty long, but the problem was Penny wasn't that powerful, and Nico's shield variety may have actually been more extensive than his own. It may not have been as strong, but he knew what seemed to be like an unlimited amount of shields, and any time Penny hit him with a shield breaker his transition shield was so fast it seemed to be there in the blink of an eye. Harry could tell the Ravenclaw captain was wearing down to, and hoped that something was going to change quickly.

In a last desperate attempt Penny stomped forward throwing her most powerful curse, which was the powerful fire charm Incendio, which caused the medics to rush forward when the boy was enveloped in the flames. The spell didn't last to long, and Penny fell to one knee when she let go of the spell. Harry thought for sure that she had either killed the boy or severely injured him, but when the fire subsided the crowd gasped when Nico was still standing, and stunned the girl with a full body sized stunner that knocked her to the ground hard.

Harry was amazed, he had to have known some type of 360 shield that protected him from the heat and the flame, because he looked perfectly unscathed. Harry rushed to the platform to revive his duelist, and she groaned when she woke up, "That is impossible, he shouldn't have been able to block that. Maybe reverse it, but Harry he completely absorbed it."

Nodding Harry shook his head, "It was incredible. I wish I could have seen what spell he used. I thought for sure you were going to hurt him."

Coming to her feet slowly she said, "A duelist like that Harry has to go down hard, you can't mess around with him, he is strong. I felt each spell hit my shield as if he was backing me into a corner with a brick wall that I couldn't blast apart."

Harry nodded and motioned for Luke and Olliver to help her off the platform and to let the team medic take a look at her, while the announcer called out, "The team captain for team 2 is already on the pitch, and the duel should be starting soon. It is not looking good for the team 2 captain Harry Potter who will still have to face Jason Grace in the next match. Team 1 seems to fairing only slightly better as Dioggry puts his wand to Thalia Grace whom is casually holding her own."

Harry growled as the judge called for the opponents to bow to each other. Harry felt his animalistic side stirring within side of him as the crowd began to doubt the home team. Harry tuned the world out as he focused on the duelist across from him. He knew that he had to put this kid down quickly, or he wouldn't have the power or energy to take down a team captain of this great team that they were facing, so he quickly put a plan together, as the last number was counted he spurred forward drawing both wands throwing one shield breaker, a stunner, followed by a blaster, a freezing spell, a ascension charm on himself and followed it with nearly 15 stunning curses, which instantly overwhelmed the the #4 duelist and knocked him out cold as Harry cast Arresto Momentum on his feet right before he hit the ground.

The crowd was mostly stunned into silence. Even his family was surprised by his daring tactics, but Darrel whom was watching the fight like a hawk roared his approval, which started the cheering. Jason Grace was called to the stands as Nico was picked up by his teammates and taken to the medic as he had been hit by four stunners.

Jason spat on the pitch staring at the Harry with his electric blue eyes. Harry copied the boy by spitting on the ground, and judge immediately called for the bows, which the boys did, but it was a short one.

At the corner of his eye he saw Cedric take a curse to the chest from the team captain Percy, whom Darrel was now approaching to combat. Harry gave one last whistle and a thumbs up to one of his best friend as they faced off against respective team captains. As long as one of them one their match they would get to fight again, and if they both won then they would end the match for the day with a hard fought victory.

The countdown began while Harry and Jason both took an aggressive fighting stance. Harry kept both wands out as if he were a swordsmen prepared to launch into battle. The first charms that came out where a shield and a stunner, hoping to catch the boy off guard, but he should've known better than to expect such an easy win off a former national champion. What followed would scare some in the audience, but the boy for the bats threw fourth a massive blast of fire which Harry took control of and threw back at him. Jason merely caught it threw it to the side, while he then dodged two freezing spells which he did by launching himself into a corkscrew like flip, and return spell fire towards Harry which he dodged, and even batted back at him with his secondary wand.

Harry even tried a few Potter specialty charms which even the other teenager would admit surprised him, but was still unable to stop him. At some point during the duel Harry realized these two boys were very close in power, and in skill, which he determined meant that tactics would decide the winner. Thinking back on the good tactics, he thought about using his animagus ability, but noted that it was to early in the season to pull such a trump card out. He then thought about Darrel's shear power blast that worked really well against Luke, but was unsure if he could hold it long enough. Darrel had taught him the method, but he had yet to hold it down for that long, and that kind of mistake would cost him the duel.

Then he remembered a conversation that he held with a certain Slytherin the day before he graduated. Terrence Higgs and Harry had spoken at great lengths over the past few weeks to learn the green curse that had "killed" Heidi in the duel. Harry knew the curse, but was unsure if it would work on this experienced duel.

Deciding to throw it all to the wind, Harry started pushing forward with his shields and curses, and when he got close enough he summoned up some power and roared out, "FAUX KEDAVARA!"

A jet of green light shot a short distance across the pitch which caused Jason Grace's eyes to widen, and drop to the ground, but then he was stunned, bound, and disarmed in seconds. The duel was called, and there was some uncertain clapping from the crowd.

Not many knew, but the wards that protected the crowd had auror alarms on them, so if someone used something illegal the Law Enforcement of the Wizarding World would instantly know. It was however why no one rushed to arrest him. The announcer however was quick to defend the current dueling winner, "Mr. Potter is quite a young surprise. At only twelve years old he has defeated his senior dueling championship winner Jason Grace. The spell he used was clearly either an original spell or a spell alteration, which is NEWT level magic for those who don't know. That was quite an impressive win for the Falcons, those captains sure no one what they are doing."

Harry hadn't noticed until now, but Darrel was suddenly next to him waiting for his handshake, which the oldest Potter son enthusiastically gave, and jumped straight into the young man's shoulders, which caused massive cheering from the crowd.

Carmichael was standing close by clapping politely clearly impressed by the demonstration of power his team just gave. Harry looked out to his family who looked happy, and his teammates who were clearly happy with their performance for the first match, and Harry got the opportunity to shake hands with Jason and Nico, whom were quite keen to duel with him again someday, and promised they would meet again in the playoffs.

Harry wasn't sure where the rest of the season would go, but he was super excited about it, and was ready to make new friends, and rivals throughout the country!

**(A/N) The next chapter will be an interesting one, and I will post it Wednesday, because I need to see some responses on what people think, and if it isn't liked I will take it down and write a different version by Sunday, so look for my update Wednesday, and please review!**


	33. 13th Birthdays

**(A/N) Instead of writing out a whole bunch of repetitive dueling scenes I am going to skip to Harry's birthday, and the end of the regular dueling season. The following part of the chapter will be news clips from across the country, about the teams success. Thanks for reading and your continued support.**

**Chapter 33**

**The Falmouth Falcons make it a grand entrance to the U17 dueling league by defeating former English Champions, and the team who was picked to win it all again, the Ballycastle Bats! With their first victory behind their two brand new captains the fans, and the country is wondering just how far this team is going to go with such young power!**

**4 games into the season and these Falcons are looking invincible. No one seems to be able to defeat Potter or Abbot in the final matches, while in the most recent game the team was unable to even approach the two captains for a final match. The country is wowed by the undefeated Falcons, and they are being respectable with excellent modesty according to the reporters whom have been handling the press conferences. These young witches and wizards are most certainly excellent, and this reporter looks forward to seeing where they will go next!**

**8-0 the Falcons have gone after defeating the only other undefeated team in the league left. Puddlemere United was looking like a championship caliber team, but Potter and Abbot closed shop once again against the super charged team. A very honorable mention to the Hufflepuff house in this match as fellow badger to the two captains Cedric Diggory took down two nearly three duelist, which left his captain little work. Potter and Clearwater were challenged to a two on one duel where the two proved to be an astounding team, with neither of them taking a single curse as Potter defended and Clearwater blasted the other two duelist to pieces. Can any team stop this unbeatable super power?**

**More than three fourths of the way through the season and the Falcons can just not be beaten. The team is basically stacked from beginning to end with some of Hogwarts finest. This reporter has done investigation and learned that almost half of the team is from the house of Helga Hufflepuff at Hogwarts, and for those who don't know it used to be known as the house of the washouts because it usually takes the hard working and the loyal, but not anymore are these words being said. With 4 of the 10 duelist coming from the House of Hufflepuff on this championship caliber team, the words that are being said are only in praise. Their dueling is brutal, its fast, and its sickly creative when they are in bad positions.**

**A PERFECT SEASON! The Falmouth Falcons have defeated all the odds and have gone 16-0 for the first perfect season in nearly 20 years. The MVP should be split right down the middle for both Abbot and Potter whom could not be defeated by any duelist across the nation. It is almost certain that this team will go on and win the National title. Never before have both captains in a single season gone undefeated, and now that the playoffs teams will have to be beat both of them in one match, it seems unlikely that they will go down without a killing curse thrown into the mix. This reporter believes that they might as well crown them the English Champs and start training and promoting them for the world finals next year!**

**The Ballycastle Bats went out in the first round against the out of nowhere team the Chudley Canons who barely scarped enough wins to make the playoffs. Duelist captain Jake Long took down the top 3 players for the Bats, and was barely able to stand by the end of the matches. The question of who will be meeting the undefeated Falmouth Falcons in the championship is certainly now up in the air!**

With the season over, and Harry's 13th birthday upon the Wizarding World July 31st found a very large party being prepared at Potter Manor! The entire Falmouth dueling team and Coach was invited, a long with most of their families. Also the majority of the house of Hufflepuff was there, and many Gryffindors along with a select few Ravenclaws, and Daphne Greengrass from the Slytherin representation. Thirteen was a big year for Wizarding World purebloods, as it was the last age of adolescence, and Harry could now legally join the spectators of the Wizengamot as a true Heir to the house of Potter. Along with several teachers from Hogwarts this was a full booming party, with lots of future, and current power in the world.

Harry was whisked away by Cedric and the boys early in the morning to the Diggory household where Amos was awaiting the boys with open arms. No one had told Harry, but there job was to take him away from the manor for a few hours, while Lily and the others set up the place.

They sat around for a while and shot the shit, while they talked girls, dueling, quidditch, and many other various topics. When 2:00PM came around Cedric announced that it was time to get the party started, and let Harry take his very first step into manhood. Cedric led them all into the kitchen while Mr. Diggory just so happen to leave a bottle of Odgens finest, which was one of the best liquors in England on the counter. It was a full bottle, so no one was fooled!

Luke laughed when he saw the scene, while Darrel and Cedric just exchanged grins and poured multiple glasses for Ernie, Neville, Oliver, and Luke, which made a solid seven. When a toast was being prepared Cedric raised his glass, "Harry has made a pretty big impact on my life, and I know I speak for Darrel too on that statement." Darrel interjected, "Yes sir you do." But Cedric continued, "And we really don't know how to thank Harry for the opportunities he has given us over the past two years. I can honestly say I wouldn't be half the duelist I am if Harry hadn't offered me a opportunity to change my future. I will forever be thankful for that. This is to the Badgers Champion, whom is going to lead us all into a golden age! Cheers to you Harry, Happy Birthday!"

The boys all at this point cheers to Harry, while he just smiled, and tapped his glass and took the fine crimson liquid down in one smooth drink which burned the back of his throat more than firewhiskey. He coughed into a fit, as did Neville. While Ernie was the only youngling that took his shot like a champ, which caused some suspicious looks to go in his direction, but he swore up and down that his Irish blood forced him to drink at a bit of a younger age.

The next toast was from Darrel, "Harry gave me an opportunity to grow into one of the most powerful duelist in our country under the age of 17, and I am really grateful for it. He has saved my sister 4 maybe 5 times, and I know that he is going to be a hero to our world one day. He inspires me everyday, and he fights for things that many of us can't even understand. To my friend, to my brother, to Harry fucking Potter, thanks for being the man you are."

The boys cheered loudly to this, and took another shot of Ogdens finest. More shots and toast were given, but none touched Harry more than Cedric and Darrel's. Around 4:30 the boys were all sent to Potter manor by Amos who had received word that they were ready for Harry, and he was still very happy to receive the Potter heir in his home. Amos was no full, he knew that when his boy took over that house Diggory and Potter and Abbot would have some seriously strong relationship improvements, so he took care of Harry and Darrel when they came over.

The house was looking larger than usual to Harry as he slightly drunkenly spilled through the floo, and started immediately conversing with some people who had arrived a bit early.

Most of the kids had showed up around 5:00PM, while the heads of the families arriving at 7:00PM the kids were already happy and comfortable lounging around the manor, while the sun was currently setting in the background. It was quite the social event, but Harry was very content. Basically every person he cared about was at this party, and he felt very at ease.

Dumbledore showed up fashionably late as usual, and he seemed to bask in the happy atmosphere around him.

Looking around the party Harry smiled. He could see the happy atmosphere around him. Darrel had an arm around Heidi. Cedric was getting awfully close to Penny whom had recently broken up with Percy, because he was "to busy". Hannah and Susan were chatting about something quietly. Neville, Jack, Oliver, and a few other Gryffindors were joking in a circle with some butterbeers between them. Rosalie was standing around in group with Sally-Anne, Megan Jones, and her friends that were going to Hogwarts next year. Harry had a pretty strong feeling that the girls were going to all be Hufflepuffs since Rosalie was like the leader of the group.

Which meant even after he was gone Hufflepuff might have a few years of good winning seasons ahead of them if she went there. Harry might be overestimating them all, but he was pretty sure his sister could be a Gryffindor or Hufflepuff.

The night raged on like an inferno of excitement as the group celebrated together as one, with no prejudices even against Penelope's parents whom were of course muggles.

It was about nine o'clock when Harry was brought aside by Hannah whom was playfully fighting with him all night. He was led over to the side of the manor which was close to the woods, and he looked at the blonde girl mischievously, "A boy can only wonder why a girl of your beauty would drag him away from the party to an empty corner."

The girl grinned, "Just shut up will you Potter."

With that she pressed her body against his and firmly placed her lips against his. Harry felt like he had died in a bit of happiness as he felt his lips connect with the beautiful blonde girls. It was a fairly chaste kiss, but when it broke he took a deep breath, "Please tell me that isn't just a birthday gift."

Hannah blushed a bit, "It is a birthday gift, but it isn't just that. Its a question and a deceleration."

Harry questioned, "Aren't we a bit young for relationships?"

The girl sighed and put her hands on his chest, "We are to young for a lot of things Harry, and training for war is one of those things. I think we both understand at this point that our lives may be shorter than most if the coming conflict has anything to say about it. I know there is an attraction between us. I have known it since Halloween of our first year when you saved us from the troll. The question is are you going to let it fan out over the years, or are you going to seize control of it while we are alive and young?"

Harry didn't have to think for long as he pressed his lips to the girl very gently, but he tried to put all his emotion into it. They broke apart after a few seconds, and he said, "Hannah, I have admired your loyalty, and the effect you have had on me is powerful. I would love to have you at my side through everything that may happen in the coming years, and I hope that we can outlast it all. I ask you to be patient with me. I want you to be my girlfriend, but I think we are both new to the game, so don't ask to much of me. I obviously know the big things, like holding your hand, and birthday, valentines day, but its the little things that I don't understand."

Hannah kissed him this time, "Don't worry Harry we will learn it together, and today, in this moment, I wouldn't rather learn it through anyone else."

Harry brought the girl into another kiss, but this time it was interrupted, "Ope! Excuse me Mr Potter! Ms. Bones said she saw you two go off in this direction, and I need to speak with you before I depart from this marvelous party!"

Harry looked over to his side annoyed at first, but then he recognized his diminutive professor and mentor Professor Flitwick, "Of course Professor, Hannah, can we talk more on this later? Maybe put a title on it and make things official?"

The blonde girl looked at the charms professor, and then at her friend, and kissed him on the cheek, "Of course, but know this conversation isn't over, and I expect an answer by the end of the night, because I won't wait forever."

The girl quickly kissed him on the cheek and ran off from the coming conversation. The older professor laughed lightly, "Oh Mr. Potter you are in trouble my young friend. A women like that will be powerful, and won't take anything from her wizard."

Harry grinned stupidly at the girl as she walked away, but then turned to have a serious conversation, "Well Professor you saw the situation, and I know if it wasn't serious you would've walked away, so I will first ask if everything is okay?"

Flitwick shook his head sadly, "Things are great Mr Potter, but I would just likely to personally offer you my birthday gift to you. It was quite difficult to pull off, and it comes with a price, but I would love nothing more than to give it to you."

Harry crossed his arms, and leaned against the wall, "It sounds complicated!"

Fillius Flitwick in his 4 foot 2 form nodded, "It is, so I hope you understand that I say the gift is not free."

Harry nodded, "I understand professor. I trust you, so whats up?"

The old professor summoned two chairs and motioned for the boy to take a seat, "First I need to explain some circumstances to you. I know you are aware of the Dark Lord's possible rising in the next few years, as you led us to the Chamber of Secrets, but I don't think you quite understand the magnitude of what will happen. The next Wizarding War might be the last, because it will divide the entire country, and goblins will not be able to choose a neutral side this time. The Dark Lord was months away from storming Gringotts last time, and this time it will likely be one of his first targets. If he controls the money he may control the world."

Sighing the oldest Potter son nodded, "If Voldemort takes or allies with Gringotts the war would be an uphill battle, and a steep hill at that."

The charms professor went quiet at this when he finally said, "Harry...what is left of my family fights for the nation. If the goblins side with the Dark Lord I will not fight against my people. I will do my best to stay defensive, but I can't promise such a thing. I need you to understand, while I want your gift to become a good thing, it could just as easily become a terrible tragedy."

Harry started to understand what was going on. Even in a slightly inebriated state he understood certain things, "Does this mean what I think it means?"

Flitwick grinned, "Yes, I would love for you to become my full time apprentice over the next four years. At seventeen you could become a dueling and charms master. It would be a great opportunity for both of us. The fear is that if the I have to side with Gringotts, and if you don't the nation will force my hand on the matter, and I will be forced to kill you."

Silence enveloped between the two skilled duelist. Harry spoke softly, "I couldn't kill you professor...you're more than my teacher...you're my friend..."

The Professor was stunned to silence by these words, but after a few moments he responded, "It would be my deepest fear to be forced into a death match with you Mr. Potter...Harry. I too see us as friends. We have a good relationship, but the war may force us onto opposite sides. The apprentice who fights on the opposite of a war, must either kill or best his master in single combat in a fair fight which magic itself will judge. I have all the paper work signed, but the fools at Ministry don't understand what this could mean. You however are smarter than most of those idiots, so I wanted to tell you possibilities before you blindly just accepted the apprenticeship."

The two sat in silence for several minutes. Harry was pondering what the right course of action was, while Flitwick watched his young pupil very closely. Finally Harry responded, "Professor it would be the worst moment in my life if I was forced into a death lock with you. However, it would be the happiest moment of my life if could get my mastery in two subjects from you. I would love to be your apprentice. I believe it could be a few years yet before the Dark Lord rises, and a few more before he can take Gringotts onto his side. I want to go forward with this. Dumbledore doesn't have time to take me in, and he is the only other person I would accept it from. I would be very grateful to be your apprentice, and I will work hard to earn my position."

Flitwick clapped his hand and wiped at his eyes, "Loyal to the end Mr Potter, in this incident it could be one of our downfalls, but tonight is not the night to wonder such things. I will finalize the paperwork with Ministry tomorrow, and we will begin our training on the evening of September 2nd. It will be an honor to train you Mr Potter."

The two warriors clasped arms and bowed to each other in a sign of powerful respect as Harry put his arm around the professor and guided him back to the party, "I really appreciate this professor, and you know I will work very hard to keep up with whatever training you give me."

Flitwick clapped, "We need a shot of fire whiskey my young apprentice, this calls for celebration."

And celebrate the two friends did. The party went on till nearly midnight, and no one had left as James Potter had brought out the expensive stuff from the Potter Manor cellars and celebrated happily with the group. Around midnight before everyone left it was announced to the party that Harry would be Professor Flitwick's apprentice, and the whole crowd clapped, and Harry kissed Hannah in front of the whole group, to show her his answer.

It was just about the time people were going to start heading home when a patornus came flying in, "James, I hope you have people at your home still. Azkaban has been lost. Death eater raid came in to fast, the prison has been compromised. The Dementors are running rampant, we need reinforcements that can cast the Patronus charm. Bellatrix Lestrange has escaped. Repeat Lestrange has escaped."

**(A/N) Yo, so whats up? I made a slight mistake in the last chapter authors note, so its actually this Wednesday that I am going to be updating, because the next chapter may be absolutely terrible, and I want input so I can fix it if you guys just absolutely hate it. So I hope you all enjoyed the 13th birthday, and the news articles, please review, and I hope to hear from you all Wednesday!**

**PS. The duelist are from popular American Culture, I was not going to create dozens of characters and have to describe them to you, so what I did was pull some of the best characters from novels, movies, and tv shows, and make them characters for other teams. Also one person already caught up but Luke Walker, come on I mean seriously? Luke Skywalker! Natalie Porter...Natalie Portman who played the Padme Amadala. Keep up ladies and gentlemen, keep up.**


	34. The Azkaban Breakout

**Chapter 34**

The people at Potter Manor went into a frenzy, while James Potter and Amelia Bones were preparing to go to war. Amelia announced, "We need anyone who can cast a patronus to come with us."

Many people were still unable to cast the charm, and when Harry stepped forward Lily immediately protested, "Harry you can't go to Azkaban, we need you stay here and look out for your siblings. We are a Death Eater target, and it is possible that they could come here. You can control the wards, and defend them if necessary."

Shaking his head he responded, "You don't have enough people who can cast a patronus to fight back that many dementors. Let the guest stay here and defend the manor, I can help you."

Sirius tried to placate the boy as they were all heading towards the floo, "Sorry Kong, you can't even cast a full patronus yet."

Determined to prove them all wrong Harry flicked out his wand and thought of memories from earlier in the evening, and events over the past few years with his friends, and roared out, "Expecto Patronum!"

From his wand came out a massive creature that looked remarkably like his animagus form. The gorilla was larger than he was usually, but he stood proudly on all fours. Everyone stopped in their place as the ape was prepared to attack or withdraw. The stunned silence was answered by Harry, "I can help you."

James making a split second decision said, "Harry your with me. If you leave my side I will ground you to the next Century. Padfoot, Mooney, stick close, we are there to get rid of the dementors not to fight death eaters. Do not engage unless necessary."

Lily looked like she was going to protest, but she understood that her husband was a fully qualified, and trained auror, which made him culpable for his decisions in these types of situations. Harry gave a nod to his friends, while Darrel and Cedric appeared to be kicking themselves for not having learned the spell more proficiently.

Neville however came towards Harry, "I will keep Jack and Rosalie safe Harry, go and keep your head clear."

Harry fist bumped his friend as people were flooing to Azkaban, and nodded gratefully. He then looked to Hannah, Susan, and some of the other Hufflepuffs who couldn't believe that they were watching a freshly thirteen year old boy go off to something that was just previously a war zone. He grinned at them all, and then gave Hannah a kiss on the cheek, "I will be back. I will send you word the moment its over."

She nodded her head sadly, and watched as he stepped into the fire right after Sirius.

Coming out of the floo from on the other side, he knew things were worse than they seemed. He was standing in front of the wardens desk looking up at the former fortress which had a massive whole in it, and appeared to be nearly destroyed. He could see prisoners diving into the water, and the dementors were attacking everything without discrimination. He saw duels taking place in the distance, but no one he recognized were in them. To his left which is where the door was he heard James roar out, "Harry come on!"

Harry bolted after his father who was jogging carefully across the walk, and towards the prison. James spoke softly, "We will defend this bridge. We can't let any prisoners cross it. The others will secure the prisoners and get rid of the dementors. With luck we won't see any...shit!"

The first action of the night started with a small group of dementors coming down towards then in two different directions. Harry and James both went to throw a Patronus, but they heard in the distance someone shout, "KILLING CURSE!"

Which caused both men to drop, as a green light swiveled over their heads.

James called out, "Sirius, Remus go take out whoever is flinging those things around. Lils get over here and protect our son. I will defend us from stray curses."

Lily was quick to take the orders as more people poured out from the floo to combat hundreds upon hundreds of dementors and escaped prisoners whom someone had obviously been armed with wands. Harry wasn't sure where Dumbledore was, but he hoped he was somewhere towards the front lines, and taking care of business. Flitwick was a hundred yards up engaging two prisoners whom were both being whooped by the tiny professor.

Lily wrapped one arm threw one of her oldest sons arm, "I can't believe you are here right now, but there is no point to talk reason right now. We need to get our Patroni out into the field, and clear some of this up. Draw your other wand just in case, but cast your best one in 3 seconds."

Harry quickly obeyed his mother, and slipped his Phoenix wand into his hand while his Basilisk wand was flicking out summoning Kong to his side. When his patronus took shape it launched itself at the closest dementors and sent them spiraling away with terrible noises that sounded like some type of scream.

Later others would admit this may have been a huge factor in the success of the battle, because no one could explain it, but the large gorilla patronus was rampaging the dementors force, and doing it very quickly.

Harry was in full concentration as he mentally controlled the magic in his patronus, allowing it to maneuver and attack in perfect coordination and strategy. People could say what they want about Harry James Potter, but no one could deny the boy had an affinity for battle tactics. The dementors were being pushed back slowly, but the prisoners were still being slaughtered. The auror force was scattered, and completely unorganized, which proved to be their downfall when three infamous prisoners, came into the clearing. Lily was the first the to see them, and she immediately turned to Harry, "Get out of here. Go back to the Floo. You can't be here any longer."

The oldest Potter son was just about to ask what she was talking about, but then he saw the problem. The Lestranges were all coming towards them, and Harry knew they were in trouble. Standing his ground, "There is three of them and three of us. We can take them."

James stood protectively in front of his wife and son, "Its to late for him to run Lils, he has the best defense, I hate to say it, but put him in the front, and we take care of these idiots quickly."

Lily screamed out, "We are not putting our son in front of us as a shield James Potter, he is just a boy!"

The Lestranges were getting within spell range, when Harry growled out, "I am not going to give them the first shot. Fight or die. SECTUMSEMPRA!"

A powerful wide X of slashes went screaming towards the Rabastian, Bellttrix, and Rodolphus Lestrange, and Bellatrix stepped forward just in time to block the spell, while cackling with laughter. The spell was returned with a green tint, and Harry and James both summoned rubble to take the curse, while Lily banished it back at them.

The duel quickly escalated from there. James and whom Harry believed to be Rodolphus immediately engaged in a fierce duel with seriously lethal magic coming from both duelist. Lily dove out of the way of a torture curse from Bellatrix, and started an attempt to fight both Rabastian and Bella, but Harry wasn't going to allow his mom to be ganged up on, and stood next to her flinging curses with speed he had never thrown before. This was a fight for his life, something he had trained for his whole life, and when Rabastian started retaliating he realized it wasn't going to be enough. Some of the curses he wasn't able to block. He felt the bones in his left arm get completely crushed by one spell, and he dropped his phoenix holly wand, and attempted to fight with just one wand.

Lily, James, and Harry were not making advances on any of their opponents, and later it would scare the oldest Potter son, because having just escaped Azkaban they couldn't have been at full power, or been anything that special.

Bellatrix and Lily were locked in wand to wand death match, with neither able to advance, while James was dodging Unforgiveable curses left and right, while Rabastian was starting to move towards Harry, only to be blasted backwards by one of his parents each time he got close. They were going to hold this dock. No one was going to slip past them as long as he lived.

When three more duelist entered the area Harry knew they were in some serious trouble. Especially when he recognized one of them to be his mothers old mentor from pictures, Augustus Rookwood. The other man that Harry recognized was not obviously not wearing a mask, and he knew him to be the mass murder Fenrir Greyback, the one that turned Remus into a werewolf when he was in a boy. The other duelist was wearing a black death eater mask, and he was unsure of whom it may have been, but he had a feeling the man had lead this attack, as he was the only one in disguise.

Spell fire stopped when these new death eaters hit the scene, and he grinned at the Potters, "Ah I see justice has appeared to have been served tonight. Here before me is the family that stopped my masters ascension to power, and they will be the first I kill as we announce the death eaters return to the world."

Harry held his arm painfully as he held a straight face. Lily and James Potter however were glaring at the man before them. Lily called out, "Your master was stopped by a lowly Mudblood in the last war Augustus, and my death will turn the Unspeakables against you. You have no idea how anxious they are to get the one who leaked so many government secrets to a mad man."

The former unspeakable laughed, "Ah Sweet Lily Potter, the one who was truly responsible for my masters downfall. I look forward to killing you, and all your friends in the unspeakable department, because they have no idea what we are truly capable of. You did not best my master or me in some duel you silly girl, you bested him with dirty tricks, and old magic. A mistake that will not be made tonight."

A flaming eruption appeared in front of the 9 people gathered making it a ten man party, as Dumbledore announced, "You made many mistakes here tonight Mr. Rookwood, and while freeing your masters followers was a good tactics, I don't believe you considered the number of forces that would show up to stop such an attack."

Dumbledore had his wand at his side, and Harry knew it was the most powerful wand in the world, and he also knew the death eaters had no idea that the wand in his headmasters hand was the Elder Wand. The death eaters shuffled uneasily a bit as Dumbledore seemed to taunt their savior.

The former unspeakable growled strolling to the front of all of his recently freed allies. The two stood maybe ten feet apart, and Harry was waiting for spells to be fired, but Augustus spoke, "Tonight will not be the night for war Dumbledore. But it is coming, and I don't believe your broken champion to be ready."

Harry saw Dumbledore's eyes drift over to him, and could see that his was in pain, but the old man had a plan up his sleeves, "I think you have doubted the power of friendship that our young champion has gathered."

At the word friendship there was a loud pop, and suddenly ten more people arrived at the scene, and they were just behind Harry with wands drawn. Both Diggory men, along with both of the Woods, Darrel, Heidi, Luke, Professor Sprout, Tonks, and Penny Clearwater had arrived at the battle.

Augustus growled, "You bring a bunch of school children to fight my masters most elite death eaters Dumbleodre?"

Darrel took a step forward, "To stop tyranny and evil like you there will always be people every age willing to die to stop you."

Cedric took one look at Fenrir Greyback and growled out, "Why don't we end this war before it can even start."

Everyone rose their wands at that statement and pointed them at each other. Penny had already pulled Harry back and was healing his arm, while this conversation had been taking place. Rookwood seemed to eye the force in front of him, and growled out, "Our mission here was successful, your fortress has fallen, and I have freed my masters most faithful followers, and they will help restore the Dark Lord to full power. I am afraid you will have to wait for the bloodshed my young friends. Let us depart my slithery friends."

Harry was one of the first to sense the absence of the wards, and attempted to fire a lethal spell into the midst of them, but in the blink of an eye the death eaters apparated away.

With the wards down many pops were heard all across the island, and Harry knew this battle was lost.

Back at Potter Manor Lily, Madame Pomphrey, Alice Longbottom, and Becky Abbot, were treating some of the less severe injuries that didn't require St. Mungos level attention, while the kids were all gathered outside around the fire that was still burning after midnight. Only a few of the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs had gone home, but those that did were only close to Harry because of house ties. All his close friend however had stuck around , because thankfully no fatalities had been reported from their party yet. It seemed like most of the killing was over by the time reinforcements had arrived, however there were 40 aurors that lost their lives in the initial breakout, along 10 more that were killed by dementors, and 30 prisoners would also lose there lives to the dementor outbreak. It was a devastatingly effective plan, but now that Harry and Dumbledore had determined that the former Master Unspeakable Augustus Rookwood had led the attack, he thought they were lucky the body count wasn't in the hundreds.

The conversations were very quiet around the camp fire up until the point where Harry stood up to address all his friends, "I want to thank the older guys for coming into help us in those last few moments. I am not sure we could've won that battle without all you guys coming and preventing bloodshed. Especially you two."

As Harry turned to Penny and Luke, "You guys had no idea what you were going into, but you followed Darrel, and Cedric because you heard that I was in danger. I am very grateful for that."

Dumbledore had told Harry after the battle that he had gone straight to the ward scheme and turned off the anti portkey wards, and sent Fawkes with an enchanted portkey programmed to the word friendship, which would bring anyone sixteen years or older who was willing to fight.

Penny was the first to say, "I owed you that Harry. You stopped a basilisk from having the potential to come in and kill us by the dozens. All we were asked to do was come to the Island and make sure that you were okay, and that we weren't to leave the docks. Professor Sprout, and Mr. Diggory, and Coach Wood were all with us so we had confidence that the ten of us would be able to handle just about anything we ran into."

Harry nodded, "The fight changed so quickly. Rookwood must have brought all the death eaters wands so they could fight their own way out. The auror who gave that call for help must have either been corrupted or held at wand point, because when we got there it was a warzone instead of just fighting back dementors we were fighting death eaters too."

Ernie stood up and demanded a question, "Look Harry were all friends here. The people in this circle every single one of us wanted to go and make sure you were okay, and I think that was a fine display that there is loyalty to you in this group. I don't speak for your teammates for the Falcons, or anyone else but myself, but I know there is a secret you are keeping from us, and I think that Cedric and Darrel know what it is."

There was complete silence at the accusation, but they all noticed that Harry wasn't denying it. In the circle was Neville, Olliver, Luke, Penny, Cedric, Darrel, Hannah, Susan, Natalie, Ernie, Heidi, Sally-Anne, Meagan Jones, and Allison. Harry knew everyone in this circle, and trusted them all. He also knew that half of them didn't know his secrets, but didn't know what to say.

Ernie decided to take his silence as an answer, and stepped towards Harry, "When I joined you guys for the first time on your morning workouts I knew in that moment that you weren't doing it to be better duelist, or to be more fit, because those were the reasons I joined you. I also felt that you guys were going to do great things, and I wanted to be apart of it. Tonight I saw my friends who are around my age and in school with me go off to war, and it scared me, but I also knew that if I was old enough I would've been right beside all of you. It is because of that reason I have to know. I am a Hufflepuff, and you have my loyalty and wand Harry."

Penny took Harry's stunned silence as an opportunity, "Were all friends Harry. Tonight I left my parents side to come make sure you were going to be okay, and I knew that my life could be in jeopardy, but I took the chance for you. I may not be apart of your group at school, but this summer has brought all of us closer together. Were stronger as a group than as a few. That may just be my opinion, but if there is something we should all know I think we can keep a secret, and maybe even help you."

Neville stood up clearly getting frustrated, "You guys all sound so accusatory towards him. None of you have any idea what he has given up to get to where he is now. Do you think power like that came over night to a thirteen year old? Because I can tell you it didn't. Harry and I have been training since we were seven years old. I will admit at times I have fallen off my pattern, but I know for a fact Harry hasn't unless he was injured. He trains day in and out to protect himself, his family, and all of you. His secrets are his to tell, and you shouldn't be pressuring him into telling you all."

Ernie spun around on Neville, "We are going to get killed if we don't understand what we are up against, or what hanging out with Harry could do to our families. He rushed into a battle with death eaters tonight who all saw him. What if they don't decide to attack the Potters because of their bravery and power, and decide to go after someone else like my family. We will have no idea what we are up against until its to late, because we have openly allied ourselves with house Potter, who has openly defied the Dark Lords old followers. I have stayed by his side for an entire year."

Neville spat back, "Right up until the point where everyone thought he was the heir of Slytherin and you all turned on him!"

Ernie was about to draw his wand and curse Neville for the insult, but Harry shouted, "Stop! We can't be fighting among ourselves. We already lost one battle tonight lets not lose another. Both sides has a good point. Neville understands better than just about anyone just what I have done to get to this point because he was there during the early stages of my training, but Ernie you're also right that associating with me could paint a target on your heads, so you have a right to know certain things. I just don't know what to tell you, because somethings I tell you are not only state secrets, but they are something that could get me and my family wiped off the face of the Earth."

This put most everyone to silence. It didn't deter Penelope though who got face to face with Harry, "Answer me this question Harry. We all heard Rookwoods words, that another war is coming, and their have been whispers in my house since the chamber incident. I think everyone here has a right to know the answer to this question. Is the Dark Lord gone forever?"

Harry looked away from her for a moment towards Darrel and Cedric who were looking at the ground clearly having not liked this conversation. Deciding to speak from the heart Harry said this, "In my first year I trained by myself everyday at 5:00am for 2 to 3 hours without fail. A few months into this I was put in a situation where I could tell a few people my secret to hopefully gather allies, and prepare some people who would be greatly effected by the Dark Lords rising. The first people I told were Hannah, Susan, and Darrel. It was mostly because of who their families were to, and the fact that I had just saved his sister, and Susan from the Troll. From that day I had gathered a few new people to train with. Some people who wanted to help me, and my situation."

He had everyone's attention so he continued diligently, "This is what I am going to say on the matter. The Dark Lord known as Voldemort is currently dead, but he will not remain that way for much longer. With the rise of his death eaters, he will have enough power to return to a human body, which will undoubtedly make all our lives much more difficult. The problem is there was a prophesy..."

Penny seemed to be the first to realize what was said and she took a step back away from Harry, whispering, "No..."

Harry nodded swallowing hard, and biting back tears, "I was seven years old when they first told me I had a big destiny in front of me, and I was ten when they told me the contents, and I will say its not good. It basically says that one of us will have to kill the other, because neither of us can live while the other survives. The Dark Lord knows of this prophesy, and its why he went after me as a baby. My ten year old mind wasn't thinking of myself though. I wasn't afraid to be killed by the Dark Lord, I was afraid for my family, because I knew from what Dumbledore had told me that my siblings were one day going to be put into danger because of me, and in that moment I decided I would do whatever it took to get them through it all. I decided I would sacrifice my life to see them grow old and be happy. On that day I took my training to an extreme edge. I spent most of my days and nights training, and studying, and preparing for war. Today I am thirteen years old, and I may be the most powerful thirteen year old on the planet, but it is also very possible that I won't see my 14th or 15th birthday, much less my 20th or 30th or 50th...I have had to deal with that possibility over the past few years, and it just makes me train harder, because I won't leave my family to die because I wasn't strong enough to fight. Rosalie and Jack are the most important things in the world to me, and I will do everything in my power to make sure they survive this war."

Darrel stood at this point, "And I told you two years ago that I would do everything in my power to make sure that your siblings got through it all to, but I also said I would do everything I could to make sure you survived the conflict as well. Were all in this together now Harry, and you have my wand and loyalty."

Cedric nodded, "You helped turn me from a above average duelist to a top Jr. duelist in the whole country. Your training, your dedications, has also given me the chance to bring vengeance to my family. I know it isn't the best philosophy, but I lost my mother to these monsters, and I know killing the death eaters that took her from me and my dad won't bring her back, but those men got away...I know I wasn't the only one who was affected by the last war in this way either, which gives me the strength to carry on, and fight for the families of the next war. I have a score to settle with some death eaters out there, and I will do anything I can to stop them from taking control of this World."

Heidi stood next, "I don't have any bad things to say about you Harry. You led our friends across the country to save me from a situation that I had been suffering from for years. I was a scared little girl who didn't have many friends, and I didn't want to get in trouble for telling anyone. I was living in constant fear. You changed all that for me Harry, you have my life and loyalty in your hands."

Hannah and Susan stood up next while the pretty red headed girl spoke, "A tall handsome boy came into our life nearly three years ago, and turned us from frightened little first years to powerful young women who are basking under his training, and guidance. We owe it all to you Harry, including our lives. You have saved Hannah and I more times then I can probably remember off the top of my head. In the last war my family was hunted to extinction by the Dark Lord, and this time around I won't let that happen to my auntie, or my friends."

Hannah shook her head in agreement, "With you till the end Harry."

Ernie slouched a bit at the silence and the eyes on him, "Your training for war Harry. A war against the most powerful Dark Wizard to ever live. I don't understand it, but I want to help you. There is something about you man, and it wants me to draw my wand and fight. My family was neutral in the last war, and if I have anything to say about we won't stand by and watch our friends and loved ones get slaughtered in the next. I am with you Harry!"

Meagan and Sally-Anne stood to, they didn't say anything, but he got nods and smiles from both of them. Penny was still staring at Harry, but Luke stood with the girls next, "I know the girls and I don't know you that well yet, but from what we do know you are an astounding duelist, and an incredible leader. You have taught us all a little something about friendship, and loyalty over the past month, and I want you to know that if it comes to a fight, and I am around I will gladly stand beside you. I have friends at school who were greatly effected by the last war, if I tell them that people are training for the next, I think I can inspire a movement in my school. Maybe I can get us some allies before things get any worse."

Natalie nodded, "I believe I can do the same. I hold some pretty good sway among my friends at school. I have seen what you want to fight for Potter. Nights like this, and friends like these. I understand, and I am with you because you are fighting for the light, and the future."

Allison smiled sadly, "If a war breaks out I would be one of the first out. My mom is the Chinese Ministry ambassador to England. If you needed a wand though I would offer my services to you. You have been a good friend to me, and I hope I can pay back your kindness."

Neville didn't need to say words as he came to stand by his friend and pat him on the shoulder, "Till the end my friend."

Olliver had his head in his hands, while Penny had still remained quiet. Ollie stood, and came over to Harry and brought the boy in for a rough hug. Harry never struck the boy as the sentimental or the emotional type, but he also had to wonder if anything bad had ever happened to Wood in his life, "My whole life I have heard about the terrible things the Dark Lord did, and my mom who is a muggle told me that people fought for the freedom of their worlds all the time. People fight for friends, family, and freedom, and I would gladly do the same for anyone in this circle. Harry your a good person, and I like you, so I will do whatever it takes to prevent or help you fight in a war if it comes to it."

Harry wiped at his eyes at all the decelerations of loyalty, and Penny was the last to speak, and she to started with bringing Harry in for a hug, "I am scared Harry..."

When the two separated Harry looked the girl in the eyes, "I am not asking anyone to die for me. I don't want anyone to die for me. I never wanted that. I want to give people a fighting chance though. In the last war the Muggleborns were hunted like animals, and most of them had no help from their so called friends. In the next war if someone calls me at any point, and needs help I want to be able to give it to them, and bring an army with me. The death eaters rule by fear, and I intend to rule by loyalty. If a hundred death eaters show up to kill us, I would rather die on my feet, than live on my knees."

Penny wiped at her eyes roughly, "It is for that reason that I am with you Harry."

Harry gave the girl a sad smile and nodded, "I didn't have to ask any of you to fight for me, or with me. It is for that reason that we will win this war, and there will be another war, and sadly it will probably be soon, and it will probably be ugly. If everyone stands together though, we will get through this, and we will emerge victorious. Tonight was the first battle, but it was a long way from the beginning of all out war. Tomorrow we train, the day after we train, and we keep doing it until that day comes, and then we stick together. United we stand."

Fifteen of Harry's closest friends stood in that circle the morning of August 1st, and these would be the people that stand beside him in the hardest times of his life, and it was all because of his kindness and loyalty.

**(A/N) The next chapter is the dueling championship, stay tuned and please review!**


	35. The English National Championship

**Chapter 35**

"Ladies and Gentlemen please find your seats! In five minutes the second round of the U17 Dueling English Playoffs will commence. For those Falmouth Falcon fans who enjoyed their first round bye we will quickly go over the new 1993 Playoff guide! The two team dueling system that is used during the regular season is null and void, because now ladies and gentlemen we will watch each duel take place one at a time. The two team captains still of course have the right to initiate the two on one duels at any point, but if they do this then they must fight their way down the rest of the ladder against two duelist as well, which could make things very sticky in today's duels...Potter and Abbot are looking astonishingly healthy in their warmups as they bounce around ferocious looking spells at each other. Earlier in the season the Puddlemere United team played the 6-0 Falmouth Falcons and their defeat was most devastating, with that having been in Puddlemere's home stadium, this is a tough looking match ahead for veteran coach Rick Carlisle!"

Harry and Darrel were in their own world on the ground as they warmed up their team. They had all attended the match between Puddlemere and Montrose Magpies, and the boys had agreed that their team would be fine, and whenever it got down to the end they would initiate the two on one duels to clean up the house if Cedric went down at all.

Harry ducked under a vicious looking bone exploding hex as threw up a huge shield protecting him and his dueling Captain, "We need to do something quickly! That was a nasty hex that almost took my head off!"

Darrel growled bombarding the two duelist back a bit, "They've got a lot of raw power, but its all got to run out eventually!"

The boys were in pretty deep at the moment. They had intended to start the 2 on 2 duels, but when they got down to Cedric they initiated it. After Cedric and Penelope both went down, the boys had quickly figured out this was not the same team they dueled a month ago! They had obviously trained hard, and taking their defeat against the Falcons to heart, and turned it around.

The two duelist Harry and Darrel were facing were the last two, as they had already defeated the one who took down Penny, who was their number three seed, but they had yet to take down either the one or two. They had been dueling for only a few minutes, but the barrage of spells was tough to counter They were also coming so fast that Harry had to draw both wands to defend, and was unable to give Darrel enough time to summon a ward.

Thinking on his feet Darrel said as quietly as possible, "Throw your patronus, and then wide spread stunners until you have no energy left."

Agreeing with the captains tactics, Harry stepped forward and non verbally conjured his patronus which charged down the pitch as full speed scaring the life out of the two boys, and surprising everyone when it back handed one of the duelist. Obviously the energy went right through him, but it was enough to frighten the young man and go down hard with three stunners. The last man standing was trying to bat it all away, but the speed of Harry and Darrel's stunning curses were relentless which eventually took the older boy down as he was bounded, disarmed, and stunned.

The crowd went up with mighty cheers, and the two boys merely fist bumped each other knowing that two more tough matches would be coming, and that they might not be able to be that creative in the next match.

They had kept Harry's animagus card for the last match in case they needed a dandy little trump card, and he hoped that it would be quite a shock to their opponents which would give him a victory or two, because it had already been decided in the finals that they would put Harry and Darrel back to back to try and take home the championship, as neither of them had been defeated all season.

The team didn't overly celebrate as they jumped on the pitch, and hugged each other briefly, or gave huge high fives, and the announcer took note of it, "This now 17-0 Falcons team does not look enthused by their victory today. They take it with modesty and reluctance knowing that harder challenges will lie ahead. Well done Falcons, and congratulations on your wins. Puddlemere you had a fantastic season, and you stood toe to toe with the best, and this announcer wishes you the best, and also his congratulations on a hard fought season. Well done everyone, and we will see you next week for the Northern Isles Championship, which will lead up to the English Championship match, thanks for coming out folks!"

Harry wasn't really sure how this team had made it this far. Penny had managed to knock down three duelist taking it down to the #1 seed, before she got knocked off, and now Cedric was up on the rise doing pretty good work against him. If Cedric didn't win the duel, he was going to wear out that #1 seed to the point of exhaustion.

The duel was pretty fierce, and Napoleon Stuttgart was having a hell of a time holding Cedric down, as the boy was still fresh, and Napoleon had been forced to duel with the juggernaut that Penny was fighting with, which made Harry cringe at the look in her eyes. Some boy, the #4 seed, was hitting on her when they took to the pitch, and he made a pretty crude comment about her back side, which made the sheltered Muggleborn girl go ballistic on the boy hitting him with a rather painful spell in the man parts, which made Harry wonder if the boy was ever going to have kids.

Cedric was still facing a rather tough opponent though. Napoleon was a quick little thing, and a seventh year student at Beauxbatons according to the announcer. He was English born, but French raised so he had to play for a English national team. The problem with that was that the boy had a completely different education than most everyone here, which left him fighting in a most unorthodox way. Only a good duelist, like Cedric would be able to deal with something like that, which answered Harry's question as to how the team had made it that far.

The Tutshill Tornadoes luck ran out however when Cedric did an aggressive move by charging forward and batting curses away from him. When the sixth year boy got close enough to his opponent he did a fake lunge, and jumped backwards throwing a freezing, stunning, and blasting curse chain with brilliant speed. It looked like something right out of the movies, but he pulled it off with perfect timing and the Beauxbatons boy went down stunned, and blasted off the platform.

The crowd went into a roar of applause, and Darrel along with Harry just sighed realizing that once again they had not gotten to duel!

The celebrations were much larger than the previous week as the Falcons had exceeded all expectations and were now 18-0 going into the Championship match next week. They had won the Northern Conference however, and were now being presented with awards and stuff on the stage as confetti of red and black rained down from the sky. The commissioner for the U17 dueling league was out there giving speeches about how dueling was a sport that had been around since basically the dawn of magic, and that now days it was used to build alliances, friendships, and teach young men and women how to defend themselves, or to one day become aurors.

The team was lined up on the pitch, with the Coach in the middle beside his two captains, and the rest of the team fanned out. When the Northern Isles Trophy was handed to coach Carmichael he was also given the coach of the year award, which did bring quite the roar of approval from his duelist, and the Falcons fans.

The ceremony was fairly quick, and they said next week the MVP would be given, and that they hoped to see all the fans there. Carmichael started a good chant, but on the way to the locker room he pulled his two captains aside, "Boys there is someone waiting to meet you two in the office as we speak. I think you two will be most pleased to meet him."

Darrel and Harry exchanged inquisitive looks, but nodded as they followed their coach away from the team who was still in a happy mood going to the locker rooms. When they made it to the locker room, a tall man in a fancy business suit was facing the wall of honor that had the last championship winning Falmouth team in 1965. Carmichael went and stood off to the side, as his two captains stood there staring at the man in awe, clearly recognizing him, "It has been 28 years since this team has looked as good as yours does. A perfect season has never happened in our Franchise's history. My team was closest back in 65', we went 17-2 and won the championship. We lost our first game, and our last game of the regular season, and then went on to shock the world with a last minute winning streak. We hadn't even won our division much less our conference, but we went to the wild card, with a new attitude and brought the Falmouth community a huge victory. I think you two both have that opportunity now, and I don't think you can just do it in the U17 league, I think you can do it in the big leagues one day too. That is why I am here, and that is why I have an offer for you, but before I do that, do you both know who I am?"

Darrel nodded, and Harry was just stunned, "You're Stanley Wood, and I now feel incredibly stupid for not making the connection."

It was so obvious, but neither boy had any reason to think of the name of the former dueling star that dominated the 70's pro league, nor did they have any reason to suspect he owned the dueling team they were currently playing for. Stanley turned around smiling widely, "Please call me Stan. I have been watching you two the whole season, and I think your teamwork, and tactics are beautiful and just about flawless. Mr. Abbot you are now 17 years old is that correct?"

Darrel nodded his head while the owner of the Falcons turned to the younger man, "Mr. Potter, you are just recently 13 yes?"

Harry shook his head, "Yes sir!"

The man clapped his hands, "Splendid, then I have an offer for you first Mr. Abbot, if you are willing to hear me out on the matter?"

The oldest Abbot son laughed nervously, "You're the boss sir, by all means."

Stan clapped, "Excellent...Now you both know that next week you will be competing for the English National Championship, and I propose that if you win Mr. Abbot I will offer you 5 million galleons a year to come play on the circuit Falcons Team. Marshawn Robinson is going into retirement next year, and I will be needing some new blood for the team. I also need a young face that I can market, and who better than an English U17 Champion. If you sign with us I will also give you a 1 million galleon signing bonus."

Darrel and Harry's jaws both dropped, "5 million galleons sir?"

Stan took a seat up against the desk grinning, "A year...on a four year contract with a promised 20% raise if you do well in the pros."

Harry put an excited hand on his best friends shoulder, as the boy was clearly overwhelmed by the offer, "I don't know what to say. Its been my dream since I was a little boy, and my dad took me to a Falcons game to play on this team..."

Carmichael grinned, "That sounds like a yes to me son."

Darrel laughed throwing his hand out to the owner of the Falcons with tears in his eyes, "That's a hell yes for me sir. I wouldn't miss the chance for anything."

Harry whooped, and the player and owner shook hands on the deal, "I will have my lawyers get in touch with you, but you will needs a sports agent my young friend. Would like some recommendations, or do you know someone who might be up to the job?"

Darrel shook his head, "I will take anyone you recommend sir. I will talk with my parents to make sure they don't know anyone super close or an ally to the house of Abbot, but otherwise I would be happy to take your suggestion."

Carmichael nodded, "With Robinson having at least two seasons left in him you will have your Hogwarts year, and then the world championship in the Summer. The team will travel around the world to compete and see who the best young duelers are in the world, that will make you ineligible for the Circuit, so you will have one year after school to train, or to travel, but we will sign you the moment you either win the world title, or get booted. We can't pay you money in the U17 league, but we can take care of you and make you offers, which we will do."

The oldest Abbot son looked blown away by the offer still, and asked, "What about Harry? Why was he brought back into this?"

Stan nodded, "Ah yes, Mr. Potter you are our local powerhouse at only 13 years old I am depressed by the fact that I can not offer you a contract as well yet, but I would like to offer you something a little different."

Pulling off a piece of paper from his desk he said, "Now I have heard your quidditch skills are almost as good as your dueling skills, and if that is the case I would like to send representatives from my friends in the American Company Nike to watch your games, and I would also like to offer you my endless amount of connections to the media, and the sponsorships that often approach me. I as an individual cannot pay you money, as it goes against the U17 guidelines, but I can show you a doorway to money, and help you build a home and career around Falmouth if you decide to go pro and keep up with your dueling training. You won't have to sign any contracts, but I will ask for your word, that if I go out for you, and make your name huge in the sports market, that when the time comes you will consider playing for my Falcons team once you are of age."

Harry considered only for a moment, "Sir you are talking to the right badger. I may find myself busy in the coming years, but I would like to keep playing for your U17 team, and if I go pro, you will be the only team I consider as long as you are fair."

This caused the men to laugh, and shake hands in agreement, while Stan said, "You boys keep working with your friend Cedric, and I may be offering him a spot to. I would rather spend the next ten years building young stars into a powerhouse, then waste my team with the mediocre talent we have today. I could see the three of you being the future faces of dueling."

Darrel then asked, "If we don't win the Championship do these offers still stand?"

Stan went silent for a moment before saying, "Your spot on this team is still promised, but the money may not be as high. It is important that you can still win in stressful situations. I heard that the Cannons ended up defeating the Harpies, so you will have a tough match from the Cinderella story next week. Most of the nation is with them, because everyone likes an underdog, but I am here to tell you that they are not as good as you two, and if you lose it will be because your nerves betrayed you. I have faith in you boys though, neither of you have gone down yet, and the Cannons will have to beat both of the undefeated duelist, it seems pretty unlikely, but certainly not impossible. Go celebrate your victory with the team boys, and remember my offer."

The two boys nodded with determination as they walked out of the office, keen to prove themselves, and win it all.

"Ladies and Gentlemen it is August 21st, 1993 and the dueling English Junior Championship is now upon us. Today we have a legendary match up against a undefeated monster, and a Cinderella story that has shocked the nation. Hi my name is Jack Wilder, and we have a heck of a match in front of us today. After last weeks crushing victory the Falcons look confident, and at ease, while the Cannons last week barely pulled off a victory against the Harpies. This will be a tough match for the Cannons, but they have continuously proven themselves in stressful situations, and this might just be a match that will go down in the U17's history. Good luck to both teams, as the line up today will be a good one."

Darrel had already warmed up the team before they came out to the pitch today, and he had them now all gathered around with just minutes before the match started, "Alright guys listen up. This is a match that we have all been waiting for. I know some of you dreamed of being in a position like this, and now a national championship is within our grasp. There are 10 duelist across the pitch that want to take it from us. They barely scraped 10 wins this season, and now they are going to attempt and take it away from us who have yet to lose. I am here to tell you guys I am not going to let them happen. I will duel until my core has nothing left, and I know you all will too. If we win this, then next July we are going out of the country to compete on a global scale, and we can all travel together, and do something we love to do. We go out here, and we win this thing, and we all celebrate tonight like its 1999. We fight to win. Bring it on in here, Falcons on three...1.2..3...FALCONS!"

The team roared a battle cry, and the first duelist were called to the pitch. Allison was still the #10 seed, and as the team broke the huddle she was called to the pitch to face a girl who looked instantly recognizable, "Allison Hunt face Hestia Carrow bow. Retreat to the dueling position."

Cedric came by over to Harry whistling lowly, "I didn't know Hestia was on the dueling circuit, wasn't she the one that flirted with you in your first dueling year?"

Harry blushed a bit, "Shut up Cedric...but yes she was, just don't remind Hannah of that."

Harry had been spending more and more time with Hannah as of late, as they were kind of boyfriend and girlfriend, but they were to young to go on a real date, so they just hang out at each others places, and spent the days together when Harry didn't have practice. They thought it would drive Susan away, but she had been spending more time with Ernie, but Harry was yet to be certain if they were a thing or not, for which he was strangely happy about.

As the bowing process went Allison and Hestia both went aggressive to start the duel. What would follow would be intense, but Allison had been working well on her speed. Her power was still a bit inconsistent, but it was enough to force Hestia backwards, and not allow her much room at the edge of the platform. Just as Harry thought she was done for, she flicked her wand powerfully across her body and a slash went straight at Allison, and it traveled so quickly the girl no time to dodge it. A painful yelp/scream came from the girls mouth, and then she was hit by the Petrificus Totalus curse, and the duel was over.

Their was some mild clapping from the Falcons fans, and the Chudley folks were going mad at a good come back victory. Darrel whispered over to Harry, "They act like they just won the championship by defeating our #10 seed duelist."

Harry grunted in agreement and annoyance by the lack of sportsmanship, but Natalie called to them as she walked by, "Don't worry, I will silence the crowd."

The boys grinned at the red heads retreating side, and when she marched onto the stage she bowed through the introductions, and when the duel started she pulled one straight from her captains book, by stepping forward and holding an overpowered reducto for nearly ten seconds, decimating the Slytherin 5th year witch right off the stage.

The Falcons fans were much more modest and controlled than the Cannon fans, but there was still a fair amount of cheering, and even some wolf whistles for the buxom red head. As the Cannons 9 seed duelist took the stage Harry noticed a bit of familiarity to the boy, but couldn't quite get a full look at him until he was face to face with Natalie, which caused a low animalistic growl to come from his throat, "Marcus Flint, face Natalie Porter attention bow. Retreat to the dueling position."

As the duelist retreated Darrel shouted out to his usual first duelist, "NO MERCY!"

The girl seemed surprised by the hostility in her captains voice, but saw the glares that Cedric and Heidi were sending him, and gave them reassuring smiles. When the first spells were exchanged Flint proved to be the dirty snake that he was, and summoned a flock of ravens to attack the girl. Barely being able to bat away the birds she lit them all aflame, and luckily dodged the incoming stunner that almost ended the duel right from the get go. In retaliation the girl through one of the most powerful deprimo charms Harry had ever seen which looked a lot like a tornado as it swept across the pitch. Unfortunately the new Slytherin Dueling Captain barely stumbled on this, and shook off the blasting curse that hit him in the upper shoulder, proving to be ambidextrous and switching hands for the duel.

Harry did not know Flint was capable of such moves, but it didn't prove to important, because the duel was over shortly after that. With a stunning combination of the opugno charm which she used after she summoned the paper birds, Natalie lit them on fire, and sent them straight after the snake in the grass. Flint had of course attempted to repel this with a regular water charm, but something about the fire was unable to be distinguished, and effectively distracted the #9 seed for the Cannons, for just a long enough time to put him down for good.

Natalie went down in the next duel, but it was still fierce. Luke came out and battled the large heavy set boy Sam Maul, whom took Natalie down, and pretty easily handled the situation.

It went back and fourth over the next few duels. Luke went down against the #7, while Neville came through and finished the job. Neville had almost taken down the #6 seed, but he tripped over some debris and a little embarrassingly tripped into a stunner which broke his nose. This however left Oliver with the easy job of coming in and cleaning up the 6 seed, and going down to the five seed.

Harry would later admit that the team was perhaps very unsportsmanlike, but they definitely weren't going to go down without a fight. Heidi and a rather heavy set girl fought a very fast paced duel which ended with Heidi shattering the girls arm, and blasting her off the platform. It looked like a good win, but she was also seriously injured in the process. Darrel was her captain, and as her boyfriend he told she had done her part, and rested her, bringing Penelope against the #4 seed of the Chudley Cannons.

The cannons put fourth what appeared to be a full grown man to the stage, and Darrel whispered just quietly enough for Harry and Cedric to hear, "Can we see a birth certificate on that guy, he is freaking massive. His facial hair makes him look 25!"

Carmichael was standing nearby, and caught the end of the conversation saying, "Alex Van Helsing, he has been a big name this year, and I am constantly surprised that they have left him at the four seed. He comes from an older family, and is reasonably powerful. I almost recruited him at the beginning of the season, but I didn't quite like his attitude...or his hair."

Cedric laughed at this while, Darrel and Harry merely shook their heads, because as if on cue, Van Helsing swayed his long hair to the side dramatically. Harry jumped onto the platform to speak with his duelist for a moment, while Van Helsing dropped to one knee and closed his eyes. He quickly spoke with Penelope, "I can feel a pretty strange power coming from that guy Penny. Don't mess around, and watch your shield charms carefully. Beat this punk into submission, and let Cedric come up and do some serious work alright?"

Penny looked a little nervous as the crowd was getting restless, but nodded her head, "Thanks Harry, but I intend to clean up the house from here!"

Harry held out his knuckles to the girl, "That's the spirit! Get em girl!"

He motioned for the ref to go ahead, and popped down from the stage, while Darrel said, "Your girl looked pretty nervous out their Cedric, maybe you should've put the moves on her before she went up."

Harry chuckled, knowing that Cedric has had a thing for Penny for most the season since Percy broke up with her. It happened about midway through the season, and Penny showed up crying to practice, and Cedric comforted her, while the team stood by their new friend. Darrel and Harry had been giving him non-stop shit about it ever since!

Cedric himself merely just grumbled telling the boys to piss off, as the duel began. Penny had improved pretty remarkably over the past two months. It was really her power level that changed to. Harry had told her to exercise more physically and it would help her magical core, and it was the truth. She always had the precision, and timing behind her dueling, but now she had some pack a punch. She still couldn't beat Cedric, and couldn't touch either Harry or Darrel, but she was getting better.

No one except the three Hufflepuff leaders knew it, but they were questioning whom the better duelist was between the three of them now. Harry had been given a huge power boost when he became an animagus, and though Darrel was currently working on becoming one as well, there was some question.

Regardless to that the duel between Penny and Van Helsing had quickly become violent. The older boy appeared to be using a dark type of magic, but it didn't look lethal, but it didn't appear friendly either. Almost everything the young man threw was also completely unidentifiable to Harry, and the boys, which made them wonder if it was familial magic that was being used against their Ravenclaw friend!

Van Helsing was also very aggressive taking quick little steps forward throughout the duel, forcing Penny backwards. It wasn't looking good for the Ravenclaw, until she dropped to one knee under the pressure of a blasting curse, and fired a massive shot of fire towards the boy. Harry thought for sure that would be the end of the duel, but Van Helsing merely grinned and opened his arms to embrace the fire. At first Harry thought the boy was mad, and the crowd gasped thinking he was dead for sure, but faster than the blink of an eye Penny was on the ground out cold, and the Falcons were staring at the back of Van Helsing completely unharmed.

Darrel's jaw dropped, "That was seriously ballsy. He apparated through the fire. He could have splinched himself really bad doing that."

Cedric and Harry were completely gobsmacked, but the crowd, and the announcer was going crazy, "What an incredible turn of event. 4th seed Penelope Clearwater of the Falmouth Falcons has been stunned unconscious, hardly leaving a scratch on Van Helsing!"

A chant came up from the Cannon fan section with the words SLAYER coming through the olfactory nerves of the Falcons. It didn't take long for the Falcons fans to return a chant back and it was clear, "DIGGORY DIGGORY DIGGORY!"

Van Helsing apparated back to his side and just smirked, as Harry revived Penny asking her if she was okay. The girl was still stunned, but not physically. Cedric casually walked past his two friends and glared at the boy across from him. The ref only waited for Harry and Penny to get off the stands to bow them in, and when the match started Cedric pointed his wand towards the crowd, "MOMENTUM EXPUR!"

The entire stadium began to rock with the powerful spell leaving Cedric's wand, and throwing Van Helsing off balance. The boy tried to apparate again, but this time Cedric was ready for it, and turned around blasting the boy almost point blank with a bone breaking hex, and then attempting to stun him, but only to be met with a clash of magical energy in the middle. Two red lights were connected on the pitch and the crowd gasped in awe. Harry had only heard of something like this happening, and it almost never happened to Potter's due to their unusual variety of wand choices, but the wands that were facing each other in the current match were brothers. The oldest Potter son knew that Cedric's wand was from a Unicorn hair, and that must mean that it was the same unicorn, and now magic itself was fighting against the two of them. Van Helsing and Cedric were both clearly shocked, but Cedric broke out of it first, when he pulled out a secondary wand and blasted the kid clean off the platform.

Cedric didn't prefer to use two wands, but recently he had adapted the ability, and had been working with Harry to the point that he could at least cast two spells at the same time, which allowed him to carry another. It was actually his mother's, from what he had told his two best friends, but it was only temporary until he could become better, and then have his own made.

The crowd was pretty hyped now, and almost everyone was on their feet as the final three duels were about to commence. Van Helsing apparated back directly in front of Cedric, and at first Harry thought he was going to punch the Hufflepuff, but instead he offered his hand, and when Cedric took it he pulled the boy into a manly one armed embrace, smiling at the boy the whole time, and congratulating him on the match. This was the first display of good sportsmanship Harry had seen from the Cannons and joined the crowd in applause.

The #3 duelist was quick to get on the stands next, and he was pretty scary. Grubbs Grady was a pretty cut dude. Harry had been watching him, and noticed that he had scars on his face that made him slightly intimidating. The thing that made Harry curious of course was the fact that the scars looked wolf like, which made Harry wonder if Cedric was basically battling a young Remus Lupin type. Harry had heard stories from his mother and father, that when Remus was younger his werewolf abilities were a bit out of control at time, which allowed his reflexes to sharpen exponentially.

Cedric however came over and said a few words to the boys first, "I am taking this guy down. You two better be prepared for the fight of your lives though. Crespley and Shan look ready for business over there."

The three hit knuckles real quick, and the ref called the boys to the center of the ring. When it started Harry had a feeling he was completely correct in his previous assumption, because the first spell that came out Cedric's wand was so fast he wasn't sure he would've blocked it himself, yet Grubbs merely shifted out of its way, causing a gasp and roar of excitement to come from the stands.

Harry was almost more into the announcing then the actual duel, "That spell was a rocket straight from Diggory, but Grady acted like it was merely an incoming spit ball and dodged around it. Diggory however wasn't to be bothered by his failed initial plan, and has began a barrage of spells towards his opponent, most of which Grady is dodging with ease. I don't know where reflexes like that come from folks, but it almost does not look natural."

Harry had a feeling that was exactly the case, as Grady began returning firing with a heightened aggression. The spells were pretty basic blasters, stunners, freezing spells, and the chain spells were pretty fast, but Cedric wasn't one of the best for nothing. With the shield variety Harry had been knocking into his brain for over two years now, the boy was as quick as lightning with shield transitions.

At some point the basics left the duel though. Grady summoned a massive serpent composed completely of fire, and launched it at Cedric, which made the boy sweat, but not freak as he swatted it away with the back of his wand, and cool it down creating solid pieces of debris which he quickly transfigured into wolves, and blasted them towards his opponent. At first Harry thought Grady was screwed, but the boy proved to be quite resourceful as he fired a wide spread cutting charm taking both dogs down, and raising a shield in time to stop Cedric's barrage.

The duel continued and raged on with even the announcer becoming impressed by it, "This duel is incredible ladies and gentlemen, and it can longer be questioned that these two teams deserve to be here. The level of magic I have seen is auror level, and in some cases I wonder what my friends in the auror department would do to dodge such violent arrays of curses. Diggory and Grady are clearly battling for more than just a simple win, but for a ballot of respect."

Harry could acknowledge the fact that the duel was fantastic, one of the best he had watched in a while, and it was mostly because Grubbs Grady should not still be standing. The boy was a walking miracle that Cedric just could not hit.

Both sides luck finally ran out however when Grubbs attempted to charge the Hufflepuff boy, batting Cedric's curses away. Cedric attempted to bring out his other wand and double the curses, but Grubbs was closing in fast. In a desperate attempt Cedric yelled out and dove towards the boy launching multiple stunners, and getting stunned himself. When the confusion of what had happened settled Harry realized neither boy was standing. Harry and Darrel both jumped up on the platform wondering if their friend was still alive, and it was clear the other two captains were doing the same for their player as they each attempted to revive their teammate. Thankfully a simple Rennerverate brought both sides back to consciousness, and the duel was called a draw, which the fans loved and hated.

Cedric looked over from side to side clearly wondering what day of the weak it was, "Please tell me I hit him?"

Darrel nodded helping the boy find his feet, "You just brought us to the end my friend, good work."

The referee then stepped in, "Abbot, Potter...Crespley and Shan wish to initiate the two on two dueling. Do you accept?"

Harry gave Darrel a nod which allowed the boy to respond, "Of course, we accept."

The announcer then gave it to the crowd, "Ladies and Gentlemen after an incredibly well fought duel that captains of the Chudley Cannons wish to initiate the two on two duels. We are in for a real treat as we get to watch the undefeated captains of the Falmouth Falcons battle the two unbeatable partners Larten Crespley and Darren Shan, good luck to both teams, and may the best duelist win."

The pitch was expanded to a larger facility which gave the four duelist much more room than previous rounds. The Falcons dueling team was now gathered closely to the stand screaming support to their captains, as the bowing in was commenced. When it came time to face each other and bow, it was surprising to the whole stadium that each player very respectfully bowed deeply to each other, and even smiled. It was clear this was a moment that both teams had worked very hard for.

When the two separated they were given a few seconds to talk to their partner and strategize. Harry and Darrel however were seen to be something rather strange, and that was playing a game of rock...paper...scissors. Which led to some laughing, when Harry swore at losing and nodded his head, "Good luck bro. Keep it tight, and don't give them an inch. Lets play with the water, see what were doing, and pull up wards if we have to restrategize or get desperate."

Darrel grinned, "Lets show these kids the money! Hufflepuff's till the end my friend."

The two boys pounded knuckles, and turned to face their opponents who were done talking. The ref then started a five second count down, "5...4...3...2...1...DUEL!"

At the word duel Harry shot forward raising a monstrous shield and feeling the pressure of four spells at a time hitting it. At first he was shocked, but then he noticed both of his opponents had two wands, which meant that they were in for twice the fire power. Darrel whom was still not quite proficient with a second wand, kept his in his pocket for the time being, but sent powerful wide range stunners over Harry's head.

Harry now understood why no one could beat these guys when they teamed up. Had the oldest Potter not had a special aptitude for defensive magic, they would've lost right off the bat or very shortly after the start of the duel.

Even still after merely thirty seconds Harry was starting to feel the strain of switching shields, and keeping the pressure of basically four casters off of him, as Darrel did his best to breach the two defenders.

After a minute had passed, Darrel cried out switch, which caused Harry to spin out of the way of an incoming spell, block another then return fire, with Darrel at his side advancing forward. This was proving to be an effective strategy, as they were pushing Crespley and Shan both towards the end, but then Crespley apparated to the other side of the pitch right behind them, causing Darrel to whirl around and take a hex to the arm, but getting in the spell path and preventing Harry from getting hit in the back of the head. The two then engaged their opponents back to back for another minute, with neither still making a bit of progress.

The crowd however was very impressed with Potter and Abbot both because they defended each other with such ferocity an accuracy, that not a single spell past the initial one breached their defenses.

At the three minute mark Darrel called Harry for a full 360 shield which he had been working on for months, and Harry screamed out, "PROTEGO TOTALUM!"

A blue ball of energy enveloped the two boys for about ten seconds, which gave Darrel a long enough time to summon two defensive wards to give them some cover, a tactic they had yet to use all season. Darrel and Harry both slouched into each other when it was done, as the world went quiet, and the two duelist outside the bubble yelled at each other and attempted to break the Abbot Heir's wards. Darrel spoke heavily, "Its so taxing fighting and returning that many spells. These guys have endless magical cores, we have to do something quickly or one of us is going to slip."

Harry thinking quickly said, "We need the animagus trump card, but we have to get them back on the same side. If we push towards your side can we get Crespley back onto the other side of the pitch? We can go with the flying Kong at that point, and either win or lose this duel. We have to do something."

Harry watched as the wards around them began cracking, Darrel spoke heavily, "You are going to get hurt doing this, its an insane plan."

"We do it for the team, and the victory. A sacrifice we both may have to make one day, its not like they are going to kill me, and the perfect record can end at the championship for me, as long as you don't go down!" Harry said fiercely preparing to summon his shield once again.

Silence came between the two, and when the wards exploded Darrel barked out, "Now!"

Casting a powerful reflection charm in front of them Harry and Darrel both turned towards Larten Crespley the 17 year old power house, and began barraging him with their most powerful chain spells causing the young man to get hit twice, before apparating back to the side of his partner. The moment he did this Harry ran forward through his reflection charm, roared out, and jumped into his animagus position, only to get hit in the back with a blaster which sent him flying high through the air with an almighty roar.

He was closing in on the two boys fast, and when they didn't do anything he hit the ground and swatted at Darren Shan knocking him with his fist, but then took two stunners to the back, but in his animagus this only took him to the ground, and did not knock him unconscious.

He waited for more spells to hit him, but they never came as he laid on his knuckles trying to catch his breath, or stand, or keep fighting, depending on the situation they were in. But then the roar of the crowd hit him, and then two arms swung around screaming, "WE DID IT HARRY!"

Feeling the healing charms wash over him from Cedric and Darrel he banged on his chest and let out his most primal roar and barring his teeth to the world! When he was done with his triumph he transfigured himself back into his uniform and was picked up in celebration. Red and Black confetti was once again fired into the sky, and the announcer roared out, "I have been watching this game my entire life, and never have I seen such young and powerful talent walk through these halls. The Falmouth Falcons have gone 19-0 for a perfect season. Defeating the best in the land, they are now the U17 English Champions. Here today the Minister of Magic Cornelius Oswald Fudge himself will be giving the awards, the MVP, and the national championship trophy, or as it is called now the Arthurian Cup. Well done Harry James Potter, and Darrel Brandon Abbot for taking your team to win it all, and I cannot wait for the world finals next year which will be a sudden death playoff elimination. Good luck to you all, and congratulations!"

The Falcons chant could not be silenced for several minutes, but the pitch was raised a bit higher off the ground, and a massive screen was showing the Minister smiling in front of thousands of people waiting to give the awards, "Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen. I first would like to congratulate all the teams who made it into the U17 playoff bracket, well done, well done! Please give these teams and particularly the Chudley Cannons a round of applause for a hard fought season!"

The crowd applauded and even the Falcons fans gave a respectable amount of cheering and applause. Harry always thought Fudge was kind of an idiot, but he also knew the man was an astute politician, "Now I have a trophy here, that I was asked to give today, but it isn't as much as a trophy, as it a chalice of victory. The Arthurian cup today even represents the triumphs of our nation and our pride as witches and wizards. It is why I feel honored to present these cup to the undefeated FALMOUTH FALCONS!"

The crowd, particularly the home crowd was in a roar of joy, while Fudge handed the cup to Carmichael who held it high, and then passed it to Darrel, then to Harry, and then to Cedric, whom just kept passing it down till each of their teammates had their moment in the light. When that was finished Fudge spoke again, "Now for this year's most valuable player. It had come to the board of this leagues attention that there are two undefeated duelist left in the entire league who happened to be on the same team, which left the opportunity for them to duel each other, and originally the plan was to have those two young men duel each other at the end of the season, but after speaking to these respective players family, the MVP has been decided in an easier way. Knowing these two friends would not wish to raise their wands to each other for something so important, the league has decided to award the MVP to Darrel Abbot and Harry Potter."

The MVP trophy was crystal and was floating over the Minister's head, but when he said this the trophy duplicated perfectly, and had each of their names on it, and it was levitated down into both of their hands, and they embraced each other happily clearly glad that no stigma was going to be between the two over the trophy.

The crowd loved it more than they did though, as such a display of sportsmanship was shown, and Fudge continued, "The future of our nations strength may lie on this field tonight, with many future young Lords and Ladies among us, and I look greatly forward to next year, where I can watch my nations team fight for the INTERNATIONAL TITLE! WELL DONE ENGLISH CHAMPIONS!"

The families and friends of the players were allowed on the field at that point, and it was a sea of hugs from Harry's parents, siblings, godfather, uncle, housemates, friends, and even a smoking kiss from the girl that he was going to very soon call his girlfriend.

The team had done it, and they had become national champions, and next they would attempt to take on the world!

**(A/N) Updates will be coming, but I don't know when. I have the next chapter written out, but the one after that I am drawing a blank on. Feel free to chime in to help out, Cheers!**


	36. Family Intervention

**Chapter 36**

The celebrations of the Junior English National Dueling Championship was still going leading up to the week before Hogwarts started. The Hogwarts crowd had already said goodbye to their friends from the team, and told them that they would meet up over Christmas, and train, and also that they would write over the school year to keep them updated on their training, and their respective lives.

The core group however had gathered for a small going back to school party the night before the express. It was mostly the Hufflepuff crowd that usually stuck with Harry, but it was also some of the Gryffindors like Neville and Oliver, while Penny was sitting next to Cedric comfortably. That made a strong group of 10. Eleven including the oldest Potter son himself. The gathering was mostly in good nature, but it was also to discuss training for the upcoming year, "The attack on Azkaban was a message that the Dark Lord is preparing for war, and I think we are going to see a massive assault in the next year. Before this Hogwarts year is up the Dark Lord will have attacked either Diagon Alley, the Ministry, of Hogwarts itself. We can't sit around anymore. Bellatrix isn't going to discriminate man women or child, and we have to be ready for the inevitable."

Darrel groaned, "So what do you want to do Harry. We train quite a bit as it is. Thankfully none of us are going to be OWL students this year, and my schedule really isn't that busy, so it won't be a problem, but even still we can't just drop our lives and do nothing, but train."

Harry argued back, "No, I know your right, I am just saying the level of vigilance needs to be increased. We need to keep an eye on some certain people like Davies, Hillard, Flint, people whom we already don't trust. A curse into one of our backs might just be the last thing we never see."

Penny asked, "What about your sister Harry? She is going to be joining us at Hogwarts now, which effectively means your whole family will be there at all times."

"What are you trying to say Penny?" Hannah asked as Harry recoiled at the question.

"Just that I have talked to his sister on multiple occasions and Rosalie is a smart girl. Good Lord Potter she could go to any house. She is ambitious just like a Slytherin, she is intelligent just like a Ravenclaw, she is brave just like a Gryffindor, and she is as loyal as any of the other Hufflepuffs in this circle...at least to her friends and family she is. I am just wondering if you had considered the possibility that she could end up in my house?"

Harry growled, "She won't be in Ravenclaw. Dumbledore told me the hat takes into consideration of what you want, and she won't want to be close to Davies or Hillard."

Cedric in a placating tone said, "Even if she was, you would be able to look after her right? Plus Jack's friend Luna is in Ravenclaw, and the two would look out for each other."

Ernie begrudgingly added, "I think Hillard should be more worried about her being sorted there, your sister is the type to kill someone in their sleep mate. Did you see that prank she pulled on your Godfather last week, or did you miss the fact that he woke up as an ass?"

There were some murmurs at that while Penny said, "I will be head girl this year, and I won't be in my common room anymore than I need to. Half the house has branded me as a traitor and the other half is in love with me, so I don't have much common ground between the two groups. Honestly if she is sorted into Ravenclaw, there wouldn't be much I could do for her."

Harry had heard from Penny in private that she had been getting hate mail from her peers in the upper years for associating with the enemy, and that she was to stop hang out with the Puffs at once if she knew what was good for her. The stubborn girl however took offense to someone trying to tell her what to do, and started hanging out with them even more.

Susan added in, "Harry the girl is a Hufflepuff, don't ask me how I know for sure I just do! There is just not a single question in my mind, she is going to be in our house. She adores you like nothing else in this world, and she thinks the rest of us are pretty awesome too. She will follow into her big brothers footsteps. Honestly I think Jack belongs in Gryffindor, but your sister is not the same case."

Oliver was quick to add, "If your sister ends up in my house she will be super safe Potter. Between Jack, Neville, and I, no one will be able to get within ten feet of her if we don't like it."

Harry gave the boy a grateful smile, "I appreciate that Ollie. I would actually appreciate it if we could all look out for them and each other. The line of enemy and friend is about to get dangerously small, and we can't afford many mistakes. A mistake at this point could cost someone in this circle their life, and I don't think I can live with that right now."

This silenced the whole group, and Neville asked, "What are we going to do about training Rosalie? She won't be like Jack and take no for an answer. She is a lot like your mum Harry, and if you tell her no she might kick your ass."

Some of the group laughed at that, while the few whom had seen Lily Potter blow a gasket, they just cringed, "I don't know yet. She knows my schedule, and she has eyes everywhere, though I have yet to figure out how. I already checked all my stuff for tracking charms, the girl just knows."

Neville thoughtfully put in, "She is just like you Harry, she is one of the most powerful duelist I have ever met. She is maybe a single step behind you from when you were eleven. That last year of training she did with Remus gave her a spell repitorie a mile wide too. She knows a lot of really basic stuff that we often over look, and my mum thinks she is going to be a Runes Prodigy. Have you seen the thing she designed in her room? Its seriously freaking impressive."

Ernie jokingly said, "Geez Neville do you have a bit of a crush on your best mates sister?"

The boy blushed lightly, "No, I just admire her. She is stronger than Harry likes to give her credit for, and she is incredibly mature. I would just be prepared for something crazy."

"I don't want her in this Nev. I didn't want Jack in it, because if she joins us now she might as well join us on the front lines of fighting death eaters. She will paint a bigger target on her head than there already is."

Hannah gently put on hand on her boyfriends hand, "That doesn't mean you can just push her away love. The more you do the more she might push back, and you don't want to cause a riff in your family when you guys are all so close."

A voice came from behind, "Oh I knew I liked that girl for a reason!"

Standing now clear as day were two girls fresh out of an invisibility cloak, one was a dark haired girl whom looked a lot like a Slytherin Pureblood Princess that Harry had gotten to know over the years, and the other looked like a younger version of his mother, "Good evening big brother, aren't you looking chipper this evening."

The group was practically stunned into silence, while Cedric asked the important question, "Well this is awkward. How long have you been standing there?"

Rosalie tapped her foot impatiently, "Long enough actually. Harry do you want to have this conversation in private or in front of all your friends."

Sighing Harry retorted, "Lets have it in here in front of everyone. They will keep me from being rash and unfair."

Some of the group shuffled at this, but the Hufflepuffs nodded simply understanding how these arguments have gone in the past, "I think I have something to prove to you Harry. I think I have been trying to prove it you my whole life. Jack and I both have really, and he has gone one way to do it, and I already have my way of attempting it. The only way I am going to prove anything to you is by besting your proteges."

Harry stood slowly, while everyone around the fire watched carefully, "Rosalie you don't want to do this. You don't want apart of this life, or this training. I know you look to Susan and Hannah and see the good its done them, but it wasn't an easy lifestyle choice. It isn't something that you want to volunteer for just because you can or because you think you have something to prove to me, which you don't."

Rosalie stormed towards her brother and practically screamed, "What do you expect Jack and I to do when the death eaters raid the manor. We aren't stupid! We were raised to the same level of intellect as you. You may be better than us at both dueling and quidditch, but you aren't that much smarter. We basically had the same teachers in theory, and that is why we are nearly your equals in that field. We know that the war is coming, and we also know our family is going to be a huge target. Are we just supposed to sit back while you, mum, and dad, fight a war? Or are you still trying to delude yourself that you have years before the war breaks out?"

Harry was rendered speechless they all were. Rosalie reached for her recently acquired wand which was a Thestral and Unicorn heart string mix, a symbol of both life and death, which gave the wand an odd aurora of power, "Let me show you that I am capable. I don't want to duel your girlfriend or Ernie, because they aren't your best. I want Susan. You practically trained her from the ground yourself for the past two years, and I am going to beat her to prove myself that I am worthy of your training as well."

Susan looked shocked by the accusation, while the others looked grave, knowing that Harry was practically backed into a corner. The other Puffs didn't say a word in his defense though, because they knew the only thing that would make their friend see reason was a bit of tough love. Harry weakly said, "Why are you doing this?"

It was then another voice answered the questioned, "Because we overheard you the morning of your birthday Harry." It was now Jack's voice who had come onto the scene, "I could hear you guys up at the house. Mom and dad are watching, but they aren't going to do anything."

Harry looked towards the manor to see Lily and James Potter sitting at the kitchen table, not trying to ease drop, but listening either way, "Yeah interesting story that was Harry. Jack and I were here when the three of you went to Azkaban island. Do you know how that made us feel, that our whole world basically got up and left to fight in a battle?"

Harry felt the tears sting his eyes, but he refused to cry, "I'm sorry Rosalie, Jack."

Jack shook his head, "Don't be sorry that you went to do the right thing, because had you all died that night we would've been upset, but we would've understood."

Rosalie agreed, "He's right, but you know what you can be sorry about? How about the fact that we had to learn by ease dropping that there is basically a dooms day prophesy about our big brother? We never got to hear it from you, we had to hear it from you telling your friends, 3 of whom you had only met earlier this Summer!"

Everyone winced a bit with that comment, and Harry felt the sting to the words. Jack said, "It all finally made sense to me. Why you didn't want us training with you, the war, everything. Once Rosy and I sat down and actually talked it out, we could basically make sense of every strange thing in our lives, funny how that works out."

Harry stared brazenly at his two siblings, "I kept you in the dark to protect you. I fight every single day through every pain, sorry, and hardship, because I want to see you guys live through this next war. You want to know something else...EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

A giant familiar looking gorilla flew from Harry's wand and lit up the camp site. Kong laid down on all fours and stood their staring at his siblings with a look of pure kin, "Do you know what powers my patronus? Two memories. One of which was earlier last Summer where just the three of us played Quidditch with Ernie. Not a care in the world, but us playing the game we all loved. The other is Christmas, when the Abbots, the Bones, and all my friends were gathered with you guys, and we were all just hanging around having a good time. Its what I fight for, and I didn't want your lives to be run by that motivation like it runs mine. The dueling is great and so is quidditch, but do you really think I do it all for the attention. I do it all for you two."

Rosalie and Jack both took a powerful step backwards, while Harry wiped at his eyes fiercely, "You want to know something else. Something I only told one person, and that was only because he was there right after it happened. I found the mirror or Erised, and I saw you two in it. Jack you were in a Tuxedo about to get married, and Rosalie you were all grown up, and in a wedding gown, with our family in the background. That is what I saw because it is my deepest desire. To allow you two to grow old, and not have to worry about the threat of Voldemort because he lay dead at our feet in the image. I didn't need to look at the mirror again, because I wanted it be a reality not some image, so I trained even harder after that. For the two of you."

Rosalie couldn't take anymore and let out a light sob and ran straight into her brother to hug him, while Jack was shortly behind her in the embrace. In other worlds the situation before the group of ten friends would have been awkward, but instead it was inspiring and heart breaking at the same time. This was a demonstration as to what the Potter family throughout the years would sacrifice each generation. This wouldn't be the first time a conversation similar to the one that was just held had happened on the grounds of Potter Manor, and it wouldn't have been the first to end in tragedy either.

The group was united, and they each had something fighting for, and that thing was currently playing through each of their minds. For some like Cedric and Heidi and Penny it was all about the people in the circle. That was what they were fighting for, and for the others it was about family, and friends, and some even a future.

Rosalie broke the hug first, "You hurt me with your words Harry, but that doesn't dissuade me from fighting beside you. You're my big brother, and I will die beside you if that is my destiny as a Potter. You don't have the right to turn me away, but you should have the obligation to help me survive this war."

Jack nodded, "I'll do anything Harry. We can't let you do this all on your own though. We have to stick together, just like we always have."

Harry wiped at his eyes again, and his nose too, before saying, "Jack you proved yourself, and have trained with me before. Rosalie if you really think you can beat Susan then you can prove it to me the day after school starts. We will gather at 530am in the courtyard below. Penny, Ollie, and you will all be new to it, so it will be good for you guys. Rosalie if you can beat Susan then you can train with us."

Rosalie nodded wiping at her eyes, "Sorry for bringing a family matter in front of so many people."

Cedric waved her off though quickly, "I think it gave us all something to think about with the conflict on the rise. Don't apologize Rosalie."

The girl nodded shyly and went back to Astoria whom had watched the scene with interest, and was now following her friend back towards the manor. Harry went back to his girlfriends side, and squeezed her hand gently, "Then its agreed, tomorrow we board the express, and the next day we train."

**(A/N) Sorry it has taken so long for an update! I will be focusing on the Dark Lords Rising for the next couple of weeks to complete the story. I will likely finish it before I post again, but I am for sure going to finish that one. This one will take sometime, but I do intend on seeing it through. Cheers Ladies and Gents, lets keep our Champion rolling!**


	37. The Hogwarts Express (3)

**Chapter 37**

The morning of Harry's 3rd year he was greeted by a unique site. Breakfast was made when he rose for his usually training hours, and his parents were sitting with Sirius and Remus around the table, as if they had been there for hours.

Harry tried to casually walk by to get to his training saying, "Morning!"

Before he could get any further though a stern clearing of the throat occurred that only a mother could conjure. Harry turned to grin, "Good morning mom, you look beautiful today."

Sirius snorted, "Flattery ain't going to get you anywhere kid, trust me, we all know!"

Lily smirked at Sirius while, James winced a bit, "Good morning son, why don't you join us for breakfast, so we can all chat."

Harry sighed, "I am guessing it can't wait till after my workout?"

Remus gave the boy a sympathetic smile, "I believe your mother has a note to your head of house to allow you into her quarters at 10PM for a bit of marauder training that will replace your morning routine...Now sit!"

Harry grumbled lightly while Sirius laughed, "Well make yourself some food and get comfortable kid, we aren't going anywhere."

The adults around the table laughed, while Harry sulked getting his food ready. When he had his breakfast secured he took his seat, took two bites, and then said, "What are you all looking at?"

James spoke evenly, "We have some news for you son, and it is good news, we think, but we weren't sure when to tell you!"

"Okay, so just spit it out?"

Lily spoke, "Well its kind of sensitive information, and we are trying to surprise your siblings, but we didn't want to keep you in the dark. We figured you would not appreciate the surprise so much."

Harry nodded, "Alright get on with it!"

Sirius grinned, "Well you see the good news also comes with bad news, so what do you want to hear first?"

"The bad news."

"Are you sure? Bad news isn't the best way to usually start a conversation." Remus chimed in.

Harry growled, "For Merlin's sake will someone just give me some news, good or bad, before my magic destroys the place in irritation!"

Sirius howled with laughter, "Testy! Kong is letting his animalistic side out a little to much this morning!"

"You would know all about letting your animal side out a little to much wouldn't you Padfoot, after all I did see you peeing on the conjured fire hydrant yesterday."

Sirius whirled on his best friend, "You swore to me it was real!"

The men erupted into laughter, while Lily only look mildly amused, "Sorry honey, I think we were all just a little nervous. We waited quite sometime to tell you. With the dueling league, the breakout at Azkaban, James working double and triple hours, we just weren't sure on the timing."

"Okay so whats up?"

Sirius grinned, "You are now looking at Hogwarts newest Employees!"

Harry's jaw dropped, "All 3 of you? Managed to con the Headmaster into hiring you?"

James grumbled, "We prefer the term hoodwinked...its more magical that way."

Lily and Harry both rolled their eyes while Sirius stood up, "You are looking Hogwarts newest Care of Magical Creatures professor now that Professor Grubby whatever has moved on! The job was offered to Hagrid, but he said he much preferred his job as gamekeeper, the good man!"

"Moony?"

The man smiled at his young protegee, "Well two very happy parents were able to give me quite the recommendation, on what I taught their children for the past nearly 10 years. For my demonstration of their abilities I invited them to the Dueling U17 Championship. I am now your new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher."

"Thats great Moony!"

Sirius mumbled, "I didn't get any congratulations!"

"Sorry Sirius, I am really happy for both of you, this is great news! Dad what are you teaching?"

"I am replacing the old fossil as the flying coach. I will be giving the first years their lessons, and holding recreational classes, and clubs. I will also be in charge of all the quidditch events." James boasted happily!

Harry shook his head, "The marauders are back in Hogwarts once again. The castle won't be standing at the end of the year!"

The men all grinned citing their famous motto, "Mischief Managed!"

Lily smile affectionately at her favorite men, "I too warned Dumbledore of this crazy notion, but he insisted that with..."

Harry looked confused as suddenly all the smiles around the table vanished, "With what mom?"

James shook his head to stop his wife from trying, while Sirius stepped in, "Kong old boy, you need to understand that the Ministry is looking...well kind of weak. They had to rely on the fact that a famous thirteen year old boys birthday party was the only reason that the death toll we faced the other night wasn't in the hundreds. In response to that they need to be seen doing something to protect the major wizarding destinations, Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley-"

Harry glared at the man, "Hogwarts. Okay I get it. So the decision was to allow some of their aurors, you two, get hired by the Hogwarts administrations and help with the castles defenses."

Remus smiled, "That would have been quite logical yes, but Sirius and James are no longer aurors."

Harry gaped at the man, then looked at his father, "You quit your job?"

James looked at his oldest son sadly, "Been on the force for nearly 15 years, but everyone in the department knows that the war is coming. Amelia said if she didn't think the head of the department would go to Pius Thicknesse she would have quit too. We aren't quitting because we are afraid, we quit because we have a loyalty to our families and the Order of the Phoenix in which we will likely engage in some illegal activities to stop the Dark Lord from winning. At all cost."

Even Harry understood now. With the way power was swinging there was no way they would get authorization to use lethal force against the death eaters, which could get them killed in the line of duty. Sirius added, "It also keeps us closer to some of the other Order members, each other, and you kids. Your Aunt Emmeline is going to move into Hogwarts with me, and conduct her research with Lily, while being able to watch over little Orion full time. It was the safest move for all of us, and it will keep us close in case of any mistakes."

Finally Harry understood what the Ministry had done, "They are sending the guards of Azkaban to protect the school aren't they."

The table went silent and James nodded, "Yes...They told us in the emergency Wizengamot meeting called just two nights ago. We were waiting to tell you, but obviously we are out of time. Dementors will be at every entrance to the grounds, and will be making sure no death eaters can attack Hogsmeade or Hogwarts."

Harry hissed, "Because they will be able to stop the Dark Lord, hell they would probably just join him."

Remus tried to console the boy, "We are not even positive that Voldemort has even fully risen yet Harry, and the Ministry is not even aware of the possibility. Fudge denies it at every turn, and can you blame him? His approval ratings are through the roof right now. A war, and a big one vs the man who almost made us lose it all last time would be a moral hit that we could not take right now."

Harry wasn't a stubborn child, he knew that the game had to be played, it just so happened that he didn't like this move, "If anything happens to one of my friends or housemates, I will personally banish every dementor within a hundred miles of the castle."

The group was silenced by the boys hostility, but all understood his hatred towards the vile creatures. They targeted him like a moth to the light. Always had, and more than likely always would.

Harry stood up away from his plate, "I'm not hungry anymore. Thanks for making breakfast, and thanks for keeping me in the loop guys. I really do appreciate it, despite my less than thrilled attitude towards the dementors. The Marauders all gave the boy a sad nod, while Lily gave him a small smile, "Why don't you go get ready for the train sweetheart. You have a big day ahead of you."

Harry nodded, and went off to his room to finish packing, his mind filled with negative emotions for only a few moments. Then came a plan.

The train to Hogwarts was pretty tame. Rosalie almost sobbed for joy when she first stepped foot onto it. She like Jack before her ran off to make new friends, and join her best friends in their own compartment, but not before she told her brother that she loved him, and that she would see him at the feast.

Harry was actually the first of his friends to arrive, so when he made it to his compartment he just shut the door, and closed his eyes in irritation trying to come up with things to add onto his plan. When he heard the door open Cedric and Darrel came in and groaned. Cedric was the first to complain, "Damnit Harry, I know that face. What are you planning?"

Harry looked towards the door to see Hannah and Heidi behind the two boys. He gave his friends a small smile before telling them to sit down, and wait for everyone else. Hannah came over and kissed her boyfriend on the cheek while she sat down shyly next to him. More people began pouring in over the next few minutes, and when all ten of his best friends had gathered he closed the compartment door, and sighed, "Dementors are going to be waiting for us at the gates of Hogwarts."

Gasps came from the group in front of him, while the older kids paled. Cedric asked, "Do we have a plan?"

Harry shook his head, "Honestly its not much. First I am going to make sure everyone can cast a Patronus mist to at least keep one or two back from you. I was also hoping that Penny would help me research the Protean charm."

Penny shrugged, "I don't need to research it...I can cast it."

Harry's jaw dropped, "You can cast the protean charm? Just like that?"

Penny smiled at the boy, "Just like that. I learned it last year, and started experimenting it over the summer when I visited Cedric. I couldn't obviously cast magic at my parents house, but I was hoping I would be able to give them to our friends across the island so we could all stay in constant communication. I am close, but not able to put it onto an object. I can cast it on animals, but not objects, not yet."

Harry clapped, "Perfect, I need you to teach me everything you know about the charm, and I will start working with you, and if necessary we can get my mom involved on it. We need to get everyone a galleon, or a coin of some type that can be conspicuous so we can keep each other constantly alert. If a dementor attacks you, or if you are being attacked by people I want to know about it. We can pass these out among ourselves, and maybe from there we can expand on it. I want a dozen of them though for the people in this room, and my siblings."

Darrel shook his head, "Its a start. I wish there was more we could do, but truth to be told, until I get my animagus transformation, I will not have much time for research and such."

Cedric offered, "I am close. Really close. I felt it take over last night, but I couldn't get the damn shift all the way."

Harry nodded, "You two are ready for the potion then. My mum said it would be ready soon, maybe by the end of the week. Once you know what you are,you may will have it within the month, or maybe sooner if you are as close as you think you are."

The two boys nodded satisfied, while Heidi asked, "Other than you three the rest of us aren't even close to casting a patronus though. Are you going to teach us that Harry?"

Harry shrugged, "I will do my best. Remus will be our Defense Professor this year, and the man is a brilliant teacher, he taught me how to use mine. Maybe we can approach him, and ask him to give us some tips and pointers if we struggle. I know he will allow us to use his room for the practice though. My parents enchanted him this cabinet with a boggart that can't shift. Its stuck from my original fear of dementors, and can't change into anything else. It will be a good practice target for all of us, if the situation escalates."

The others nodded, and plans started developing on when they would first attempt this, and what the upcoming tryouts and such were going to look like. Most of the journey was covered when the train came to a lurching stop. Most of the room was throne, but Harry let his animal instincts take over and launched himself on the ceiling hanging on the rail for luggage rail for dear life. In a normal circumstance everyone would have laughed, but most of the group was to busy drawing their wands, "We aren't there yet. The train shouldn't have stopped for anything." Cedric said.

Harry looked out the window with the others, and saw cloaked figures approaching the train. Penny cursed, "Shit dementors. What do we do?"

Harry growled, "We do nothing, only three of us can cast a patronus. Cedric, stay here, protect the group. Darrel, you go left out of the carriage, and I will go right. Keep everyone in their carriages, and give warnings to any dementors you see that board the train before you blast them."

Darrel nodded, and everyone quickly accepted Harry's plan as the three Hufflepuff leaders spurred into action.

When Harry made it to the main hallway people were trying to investigate, "Everyone inside now! The train is being boarded by dementors."

Harry flicked his wand in a spiral like motion pushing people back into their rooms and slamming the doors. As Harry marched his way down the train the temperature plummeted. He ran across Percy Weasley who attempted to give him detention for causing ruckus, but Harry merely blasted the poor idiot aside, and kept marching. When he got towards the back of the train he heard a scream not to far in front of him, and it sounded like his sister, which snapped something inside of him. He bolted forward onto the next section of the train and saw a floating figure in front of a small girl that resembled his sister, but was definitely to small to be. She was crying and staring in a frozen shock. Harry barked out, "There are no death eaters here, be gone!"

The dementor was not however in the listening mood as it inched towards the girl who was to paralyzed to move. Harry roared out, "Last chance, be gone!"

With no other warnings needing to be given Harry lashed out, "Expecto Patronum!"

A massive creature launched from his wand slamming into the dementor in front of him, and quickly followed after it as it ran for its life. Harry drew his other wand and sent it spiraling down the train in the opposite direction in hope of hitting anything else before it got to anyone.

The little girl in front of him was his main concern now, as her eyes had not left the spot the dementors was previously floating. He crouched in front of the petite girl trying to garner her attention, "Hi, are you okay?"

She quietly whispered, "Was that the boogeyman?"

Harry shook his head, "No, it was guard to a wizard prison, they are called dementors. They are really dangerous magical creatures, but they are supposed to be helpful. They don't normally target people so young."

The girl barely blinked, but she shivered slightly. Harry pulled some left over chocolate he had from the cart earlier in the journey and handed it to her, "Here this will help. I am Harry by the way. If your cold, I can get you a jacket."

The girl nodded numbly, and Harry transfigured her shirt into a long sleeve fluffy jacket, that clearly made the girl instantly warmer. Smiling lightly at the girl he asked, "Were you all alone when the dementor approached you?"

The girl didn't answer that, and he asked, "Can I ask if this your first year at Hogwarts?"

The girl sniffled a bit this time and whispered timidly, "Yes, and no one would let me sit with them...They called me a mean name, or at least a name that sounded mean, and these girls laughed, and I tried to run from it, but then I ran into the monster."

Harry put two comforting hands on the girls shoulders pumping the calming charm into her body, "Its okay, shhh. Don't cry, you just started your journey on the wrong foot with a group of bullies. Were they wearing blue or green?"

She shook her head, "They were wearing yellow."

Harry's blood boiled at those words. That meant someone in his house had called this little girl the M word and refused her company, while others laughed. He wasn't sure who would say such things to her, but he was positive he was going to find out, "Don't worry about that now sweety, I am going to take you to my little sister, and she will help you meet and make some new friends. She is a first year just like you, and I am sure you two can be friends. I promise they won't make fun of you, and that the monster won't come back."

The little girl nodded and took Harry's offered hand. There were some quite spectators watching the scene and when he was walking he saw Wayne and Justin simply keeping an eye on what had happened and as he walked by he whispered, "Find out who said those things to the girl. This is not an acceptable representation of our house."

Whatever was in Harry's eyes when he said those words must have really gotten the twos attention because they instantly nodded, and gave the boy encouraging words as he walked the girl towards the other end of the caboose.

As he approached his own compartment Darrel came jogging down, "Took care of a few dementors on this side, had them pushed back a little until your monster came out of nowhere and crushed them out of existence. We aren't far from Hogsmeade...Hello there little one! I am the head boy, Darrel Abott, are you okay?"

Darrel squatted down in front of the girl who was still holding Harry's hand for dear life, while some of the others from his nearby compartment heard the ruckus and came to see what had happened, "Yes, I was just being scared by a big monster. Harry chased him away for me though. He was really brave."

Harry blushed a bit at the girl praise, and Hannah had to choose that time to come out, "Holding another girls hand Harry, whats a girl to think?"

Both Harry and the little girl blushed, but Darrel saved the two from further embarrassment, "Whats your name little one?"

"Erin..."

"Well Erin, I hope that we can find you some people a little closer to your age to hang out with, that way you can make some good friends who will protect you. Stick close to my house and you will find that loyalty can be everything."

"But your wearing the colors of those mean boys and girls. Are you and Harry in the same group as them?"

Darrel looked questioningly at Harry, but the look Harry gave him told him to drop it. Hannah came to rescue saying, "Oh no sweetie, if they were mean they couldn't have been a true Hufflepuff. Harry scared away the monster and he isn't so bad is he?"

The girl shook her head shyly, when a red rocket came a flying towards them, "Harry, I saw your patronus. Were there dementors on board?"

Harry grinned, "Rosalie, just the beautiful red head I wanted to see! Rosy this is Erin, she was cornered by the dementor earlier, and hasn't had the best start on the express, can you introduce her to Astoria, and Demelza maybe tell some stuff about Hogwarsts?"

Rosalie who was always happy to meet new people enthusiastically greeted the girl and carted her off without a second glance to her compartment.

As soon as they were out of ear shot Darrel hissed, "What did she say about our housemates?"

Harry quickly defended the girl, "That they called her the M word and told her to basically bugger off. I put Wayne and Justin to the task of finding out who did it. That is-"

"Completely unacceptable. I agree."

Harry nodded and motioned for the boy to the compartment to join their friends once again.

The sorting was going great so far. Harry was happy surprised with the Hufflepuff collection this year. Last year they had only received a few, but this year, they had a few surprises like Astoria Greengrass. He was sure the girl was a snake in the grass like her sister, but the hat had put her in his house. When Rosalie was called it was as fast as the normal pureblood sorting, she went to Hufflepuff the moment the hat touched her head. The hat even boomed, "That is how these sorting are supposed to be Potters!"

Most of the hall laughed at that, and Rosalie skipped right over to her best friend, and ran up to her brother and embraced him tightly, while also embracing Jack whom had walked over to their table briefly for a bit of sibling unity. After that had taken place though the next few sorting were not very surprising. Erin ended up being Erin Stephenson, and was sorted into Hufflepuff with Rosalie, while Romilda Vane also followed her group of friends into Hufflepuff. That made six Hufflepuff girls in the year and only two boys. It was quite an uneven balance unlike in past years.

When the sorting was over Dumbledore stood and addressed the student body. He briefly spoke of the dementors, and then introduced the new staff for the year. The applause from the older students was admirable for all the Marauders as they remembered the men for donating the brooms just last year.

After that the feast was underway, and that came and went without hitch.

The introduction of the new students also went smoothly that evening while Harry briefly spoke with Professor Sprout about his Summer, and the problem on the train. He didn't want it to get around, but he wanted to know whom had spoken out against the girl like that, and whoever it was, he wanted them to learn a valuable lesson in respect.

**(A/N) Hello everyone! Spitkill back here with chapter 37 of the Badgers Champion, I recently read the story, and I am currently working on chapter 38 an 39 so stay tuned for more! Please read and review!**


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